97 
ON GLADIOLUS ILLYRICUS, AS A BRITISH PLANT.* 
By Cuartzs C. Baxsineton, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S, 
(Plate IV.) 
A plate will be found in the present number of this Journal repre- 
senting the Gladiolus Illyricus, Koch, a recent addition to the British 
lora. It was discovered by the Rev. W. H. Lucas, in the New 
Forest, Hampshire, in the year 1856, flowering in July, and is abun- 
dant in several parts of the Forest, but may be easily overlooked from 
being hidden in a dense growth of P/eris aquilina, The late Mr. 
Borrer said, in a letter to me, that the two situations in which he had 
seen an abundance of the plant extending over considerable tracts, are 
^ such hat T should suppose no one could suspect that the plant is 
other than indigenous, as truly as its companion Habenaria bifolia.” 
Nevertheless, it is so suspected by persons who have not seen it, and 
who, therefore, only judge from what they consider probable. Mr. 
Borrer examined for himself on the spot with his usual care, and his 
opinion is stated above. At his desire I inserted a notice of its dis- 
covery in the ‘Annals of Natural History,’ of August, 1857 (2nd ser. 
vol. xx. p. 815), but with the erroneous name of G. imbricatus. 
In the ‘Linnean Journal’ (vi. 177), Mr. A. G. More gave an ac- 
count of the discovery of the same plant in the Isle of Wight. Un- 
fortunately, he does not know of more than one specimen being found 
there, “in the midst of a wild tract of copse and heath, called the 
Apse or America woods.” It was observed there by Mrs. Phillipps, in 
bud, on July 7, 1855, dug up, planted in a pot, flowered, and a draw- 
ing made of it by her. I have been favoured with a sight of the pre- 
served specimen and its portrait, and have no doubt that the plants of 
the Island and of the Forest belong to the same species. ; 
Much correspondence took place about its correct name, and claims 
to be accepted as indigenous. It was at first thought to be G. imbri- 
catus; but a very careful examination of English and Continental 
specimens, and also of the writings of the best authors who have de- 
scribed these rather difficult plants, has led Mr. More and myself to 
the decided opinion that it is G. Iilyricus (Koch). Those botanists 
“1 be found an additional article on this interesting plant, 
ED. LI 
* Tn our next number will 
from the pen of J. T. Boswell Syme, Esq., F.L.S.— 
VOL. I. 
H 
