NAT. ORDER. EX.-.iT.E. 157 



ornamcnlal of garden flowers, and from their beautiful appearance and 

 variety of colors luive become particular favorites, on account of their 

 early flowering as well as their beauty. Nearly all tlie varieties of 

 this class and order are propagated by their bulbous roots, and can 

 be cultivated to almost any extent by sowing the seeds. 



Another very important species of the Ixia Tricolor, is one so 

 frequently spoken oi' by the ancients. The top spreads itself into a 

 kind of umbel, composed of many long, narrow leaves. The lower 

 part of tile stalk is surrounded with long sword-shaped leaves. This 

 is the plant from which the celebrtited jMjJijrus of the Egyptians and 

 other ancient nations was obtained. Between the flesh and bark of 

 tlie thick part of the stalk there grows a membrane, which being 

 stripped ofT in the form of narrow pieces or ribbons, was united into 

 slieets by pressm-e, and then dried in the sun. Many of those sheets 

 put together made the rolls on which the ancient manuscripts were 

 written. This plant is indigenous in the swamps of Egypt and Etlii- 

 opia, and as a matter of experiment in England has been cultivated 

 in cisterns of water, witli rich mud at the bottom. 



Isia braleriodes. Cup-shaped Ixia. This is a very beautiful 

 species, from the brilliant color and large size of its flowers ; they are 

 not, however, so numerous, as most of the other species, seldom ex- 

 ceeding two or three in each cluster. It should be grown in pots, 

 Avell drained by being a tiiird part filled with cinders, in sand ; and 

 the pots should stand in a saucer of water. Flowers in July. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The Ixia Tricolor, the represen- 

 tative of our drawing, possesses some very valuable medical properties. 

 In France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, it has been introduced into 

 practice, and successfully administered in ob;- tinate cases of diarrhoea 

 and dropsies. The root, when dried, is one of the most powerful as- 

 tringents that has been introduced into the materia medica ; the fresh 

 root is a powerful cathartic, and for this purpose the juice has been 

 rm])loycd in doses of a drachm and upwards, in dropsies ; it is also 

 used to scent hair powder, on account of its aromatic and fragrant odor. 



