PLATE XXIX. 



1. IXIA CHINENSIS. 



CHINESE IXIA. 



This genus contains plants of the herbaceous, bulbous, and tu- 

 berous root perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Triandria Monogynia, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Eiisatce. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a spathc, bivalve, inferior, 

 shorter than the corolla : valves oblong, permanent, the exterior wider, 

 sheathing the interior: the corolla one-petalled, regular, superior: 

 tube filiform, gradually enlarged, straight: border regular, bell- 

 shaped, six-parted: divisions oblong, obtuse, equal, spreading: the 

 stamina have three filaments, thread-subulate, inserted into the tube 

 near the orifice, shorter than the corolla: anthers oblong, furrowed: 

 the pistillum is an inferior, triangular germ: style simple, filiform, 

 upright: sligmas three, liliform: the pericarpium is an ovate capsule, 

 three-sided, obtuse, three-celled, tliree-valved : the seeds several, 

 i-oundish, smooth. 



The species cultivated arc: 1.7. /j////wco(i/«w. Crocus-leaved Ixia ; 

 2. I.Chinensis, Chinese Ixin; 3. /. rosea. Rose-coloured Ixia; 4. /. bul- 

 bifera. Bulb-bearing Ixia; 5. /. arista to. Bearded Ixia; 6. I.Jieiuosa, 

 Bending-slalked Ixia; 7- I. poli/stac/iia. Many-spiked Ixia; 8.1.ma- 

 culata. Spotted Ixia; 9- /• crocatu. Crocus-flowered Ixia. 



The first has a roundish bulb, placed on the withered bulb, double 

 the size of a pea, white, covered with a bay-coloured skin: the leaves 

 three or four, in the flowering plant radical, in the fruiting cauline, 

 spreading liorizon tally, half a i'ool or thereabouts in leiiglli, sinoolli, 

 sliarpish : the stem solitary, upright, tno inches high, above the up- 



