98 ON GLADIOLUS ILLYRICUS, AS A BRITISH PLANT. 
who look especially to the reduction of species to a minimum, include 
it under the name of G. communis; but I cannot think that by com- 
bining into one supposed species well-marked and apparently constant 
forms, they are really advancing science. I once said, and still fully 
believe, that the most certain way of causing oblivion to fall upon a 
plant is to place it as a variety under some recognized species. 
The specific character of our plant may be stated as follows:— 
G. Illyricus, Koch; corm clothed with nearly parallel fibres, netted 
above so as to leave long narrow openings; flowers secund ; filaments - 
longer than the anthers; tube of corolla nearly twice as long as the 
germen; capsule oval, emarginate, with three rounded angles. [It 
will probably be found that an excellent character resides in the shape 
of the corm, which in G. Illyricus seems to be ovate-acuminate, in 
G. communis globose and depressed at the top. But one requires 
more specimens to establish this point satisfactorily —Ep.] —' 
It is figured in Sturm’s * Deutschland’s Flora,’ fasc. 83, t. 3, ina 
very satisfactory manner. The fresh capsules of our plant require 
examination, as their form is not quite satisfactorily determined. 
It is unnecessary to occupy much more space in this Journal, for 
Mr. More has stated all that is necessary in the ‘Linnean Journal,’ 
which we have already quoted. The plant seems to have arrived at 
its extreme northern limit in Hampshire. It extends up the western 
side of Europe, becoming less and less abundant as it attains a more 
and more northern latitude. It is stated to be very rare in the De- 
partments of the Loire Inférieure and Morbihan of Western France. 
Lloyd, * Flore de l'Ouest,’ p. 450.) ; 
I have no knowledge of this as a cultivated plant, and, indeed, had 
it been found in gardens, it could hardly have travelled from them to 
the parts of the New Forest where it grows; or, if that be barely 
possible, the erent must be very far distant for the Gladiolus to have 
had time to spread over a great extent of wild, uncultivated ground, 
EXPLANATION oF Prate IV. 
Gladiolus Illyricus, Koch, (drawn from specimens kindly communicated by 
J. T. Boswell Syme, Esq.)—Fig. 1. Part of the netted fibre of the corm. 2 and 3- 
Stamens, the latter showing the entire length of the filament, 4, Stigma. 5. Ovary 
far advanced :—all slightly magnified. 
