PLATE XXIX. 



1. IXIA CHINENSIS. 



CHINESE IXIA. 



THIS genus contains plants of the herbaceous, bulbous, and tu- 

 berous root perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Triandria Monogynia, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Ensatce. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a spathe, bivalve, inferior, 

 shorter than the corolla : valves oblong, permanent, the exterior wider, 

 sheathing the interior: the corolla one-petalled, regular, superior: 

 tube filiform, gradually enlarged, straight: border regular, bell- 

 shaped, six-parted: divisions oblong, obtuse, equal, spreading: the 

 stamina have three filaments, thread-subulate, inserted into the tube 

 near the orifice, shorter than the corolla : anthers oblong, furrowed : 

 the pistillum is an inferior, triangular germ : style simple, filiform, 

 upright: stigmas three, filiform: the pericarpium is an ovate capsule, 

 three-sided, obtuse, three-celled, three-valved : the seeds several, 

 roundish, smooth. 



The species cultivated are : 1. 1. Bulbocodium, Crocus-leaved Ixia ; 

 2. I.Chinensis, Chinese Ixia; 3. /. rosea, Rose-coloured Ixia; 4. 7. bul- 

 bifera, Bulb-bearing Ixia; 5. I. arista ta, Bearded Ixia; 6. I.fiexuosa<, 

 Bend ing-stalked Ixia ; 7- I- polystachia, Many-spiked Ixia; 8. I. ma- 

 culata, Spotted Ixia; 9- I- crocata, Crocus-flowered Ixia. 



The first has a roundish bulb, placed on the withered bulb, double 

 the size of a pea, white, covered with a bay-coloured skin: the leaves 

 three or four, in the flowering plant radical, in the fruiting cauline, 

 spreading horizontally, half a foot or thereabouts in length, smooth, 

 sharpish : the stem solitary, upright, two inches high, above the up- 



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