69 



orange-coloured lily flowers. Is strictly a garden plant. June. 

 It is classed by Reade as an Iris as he also calls the following. 



Gladiolus. Herb. (Cora flag gladiolus. ) Lefroy says this 

 plant died out after importation; Reade only barely alludes to 

 it. But now scarcely a garden can be found which is not gay 

 with its many coloured l)rilliant flowers one above another, 

 commencing halfway up the flower stalk eighteen inches to 

 two feet high. The original gladiolus is a poor weak flower, 

 dirty red, which has spread into cultivated fields and waste 

 places, where it has become a weed. 



A plant much resembling the gladiolus was imported V)y the 

 late honourable Thomas S Reade, of Pembroke Hall. Its 

 flower-heavd droops over; flowers a dingy red, not so large as 

 the former. Its name is Menbretichus. 



Naural Order, AmarylHdeae. 



Agave .Americana. L/inn. (agave or golden aloe. ) I^eaves 

 three to six feet long, fleshy and leathery, sinooth, lance-shap. 

 ed with curved spines, and very sharp points. Flower-stem 

 rises fifteen to twentj-five feet, with alternate branches, 

 pyramidal in appearance, covered with numberless flower 

 clusters. Waste places thickets, and planted in places close as 

 a fence. Flowers two inches long, of a greenish-golden yellow. 

 It is known in some places as the Century plant, from the 

 erroneous idea that it only flowers once in a hundred years. 

 It takes a number of years growth before it does flower, after 

 which the plant gradually dies. 



Narcissus Jonquilla. Linn, (jonquil.) About one foot high, 

 with long narrow leaves at base of stem. Bears from one to 

 three deep yellow, fragrant, flat flowers. Common around 

 plantations. Spring. 



Narcissus Tazetta. (narcissus.) Very similar to the above, 

 except that it bears a cluster of white flowers with a yellow 

 centre, smaller than the preceding, with a delicious fragrance. 



Aloe Vulgaris, Lam. (aloe.) Stem of no height throws up 

 suckers around its base. Leaves, two to three feet long or 

 more, lance-shaped, acute, curved upward, verj' thick, glutin- 



