NAT. ORDER. IRIDE.E. 49 



Italian Corn-Jlag ; tlie Italian, with flowers on each side the stalk, 

 of which there is a variety with white flowers, named French Corn- 

 flag ; and the Great Corn-flag of Byzantivuii, which has larger roots, 

 hut of the same form ; the leaves are much broader and larger, with 

 deeper cbannels ; tlie flower-stalks rise to a greater height, the flow- 

 ers much larger, of a deeper red-color, and the sheaths longer. This 

 is the sort mostly cultivated, making a veiy gay appearance when in 

 full blossom, and the roots do not increase so much as to be incon- 

 venient. Besides these, according to more modern authors, there are 

 three other varieties ; the Blush, the White, and the Small Pui'ple. 



Gladiolus imbricatus. Imbricated-flowered Gladiole. In this 

 species the leaves are sword-shaped, and the flowers are small, be- 

 ing all directed one way, and imbricate. It is a native of Russia. 



Gladiolus angustus. Narrow-leafed Gladiole. In this species 

 there rises but a simple scape, or but httle branched, sheathed, round, 

 striated, smooth, flexuose-ereet, and about a foot high ; the leaves 

 are from long sheaths, ensifox-m, marked with white elevated streaks, 

 entire, smooth, and shorter than the scape ; the upper ones gradual- 

 ly smaller; the flowers all on the same side, ascending, on one or 

 two spikes, about six mches in length ; the rachis is angular, flexuose, 

 twisted, and smooth ; the spathes the length of the tube of the corolla, 

 shorter than the branches, green ; the segments of the border of the 

 corolla usually waved. 



Gladiolus cardinalls. Superb Scarlet Gladiole. In this species 

 the flowers are of a fine scarlet, with large, wliite, somewhat rhom- 

 boidal spots on several of the lowermost divisions of the corolla. 

 Strong plants will throw up a stem three or four feet high, dividing 

 at the top into several branches. It flowers in July and August, and 

 is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



The Su'07'd-Lili/, (by some called the Corn-flag,') belongs to a 

 genus of tuberous plants, and is one of the finest ornaments of the 

 flower garden. The Asiatic and European species, have long been 



