IRIDACE®. 141 
The flower in the figure given in this work is considerably larger 
than it ought to be. 
Columna’s Trichonema. 
French, Romulée de Columna. 
GENUS IUI.—G@GLADIOLUS. Tournef. 
Perianth irregular, petaloid, tube extending a little way above the 
ovary, and more or less curved ; limb 6-partite, the seements unequal, 
disposed in a subbilabiate manner. Stamens 3, inserted in the tube 
of the perianth, subsecund, included or exserted; anthers linear, 
affixed by the back above the base. Ovary adhering to the base 
of the perianth tube, green, subglobular-ovoid, bluntly trigonous; 
style filiform, elongate; stigmas 3, obovate or oblanceolate, sub- 
petaloid, undivided. Capsule of the consistence of parchment, ovoid 
or turbinate-ovoid, trigonous, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds numerous, 
globular, compressed, and surrounded by a membranous wing, rarely 
globose with a soft testa and no wing. 
Herbs with corms with a covering of netted or parallel fibres, and 
leafy stems with equitant and ensiform parallel-nerved leaves and 
showy spicate often secund ascending or horizontal flowers enclosed in 
2- or 3-valved subherbaceous spathes. arely the leaves have their 
section in the form of a cross. 
This genus derives its name from the diminutive of gladius, a sword, from the shape 
of its leaves. 
SPECIES L-GLADIOLUS ILLYRICUS. Koch. 
Pirate MCCCCXCIII. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IX. Tab. CCCLII. 
G. communis, Hook. § Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 441. Benth. Handb. Brit. Fl. ed. ii. 
p- 465 (non Auct. Plur.). 
G. imbricatus, Bab. Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. II. Vol. XX. p. 158 (non Reich.). 
Corms ovate-ovoid, acuminate, clothed with subparallel fibres 
forming a network only towards the apex. Leaves linear-ensiform. 
Flowers secund. Spathe of two slightly unequal acuminated herba- 
ceous halves with scarious margins much shorter than the flowers. 
Uppermost segment of the perianth oblanceolate-spathulate, arched, 
separate from the lateral ones in the lower half, but covered by ‘hoe: 
edges in the apical half ; uppermost lateral segments oblanceolate 
towards the apex and tiene -subparallel below. Stamens shorter than 
the filaments. Seeds with a membranous wing. 
