G L A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GL A 



615 



Linneus gave the name tristis to this species, from the 

 gloomy colour of its flowers. They are very frequently of a 

 pale yellow or sulphur colour, shaded in particular parts with 

 very fine pencilling^, especially on the under side; but they 

 vary much with different ^shades of white and green, yellow, 

 flesh-coloured, blue, purple, and violet. Thunberg has dis- 

 tinguished sixteen of these varieties. It is commonly said to 

 produce only two flowers on a stem ; but there are frequently 

 more. They generally emit a most fragrant odour, when they 

 expand. Native of the Cape. 



8. Gladiolus Carinatus; Spotted-stalked Corn Flag. Leaves 

 linear, keeled on both sides, smooth ; tube of the corolla 

 shorter than the spathes and the borders; stigmas undivided, 

 folded together; stalk a foot and a half high, and round; 

 flowers sweet; tube subcylindric, little more than half an inch 

 in length, whitish; border subcampanulate, subringent; 

 the three upper divisions obovate, oblong, twice as long as 

 the tube, pale violet; the three lower narrower, that in the 

 middle the same length with the three upper ones, yellow 

 below the middle; the side ones shorter, yellow in the mid- 

 dle. It flowers in April and May. Native of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



9. Gladiolus Blandus; Blush-coloured Corn Flag. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, nerved, smooth; flowers in spikes, the tipper 

 segment reflex ; stigmas slightly two-lobed ; tube of the co- 

 rolla narrow, compressed, little bent, an inch and a half in 

 length, pale red ; filamenta white, half the length of the co- 

 rolla; antherse oblong, linear, erect, bine; style white, longer 

 than the filamenta; stigmas three, patulous, dilated at the 

 top into two lobed laminas, villose at the edge. The flowers 

 vary in colour from white to pale pink, and are scentless. ' It 

 flowers in June. Native of the Cape. 



10. Gladiolus Undulatus; Waved Corn Flag. Leaves 

 sword-shaped; petals nearly equal, lanceolate, waved; stalk 

 foot and a half high; flowers alternate in a double row, 

 yellowish-white, or pale blush-colour; proper spathes two- 

 leaved, the inner leaf smallest; tube of the corolla long, 

 filiform ; the six parts of the border nearly equal, in form of 

 a Lily, waved, especially the alternate ones. Native of the 

 Cape. 



11. Gladiolus Recurvus; Recurved Corn Flag. Leaves 

 sword-shaped ; petals nearly equal, lanceolate, bowed back. 

 The flowers are ranged on one side of the stalk near the top, 

 and stand pretty far asunder; corolla curved; segments of 

 the border almost equal, ending in blunt points; the lower 

 segments turning downwards, the upper erect, and spreading 

 open; the colour pale bluish, approaching to white ; each 

 segment marked with a broad, purple, divided line along the 

 middle. The flowers have an agreeable violet odour; they 

 appear at the end of May, and the seeds ripen in July. 

 Native of the Cape. 



12. Gladiolus Spicatus ; Spiked Corn Flag. Leaves linear; 

 stem extremely simple; scape simple, round, sheathed, erect, 

 a span high; flowers in spikes, distich, imbricate, blue, about 

 twelve pairs in a spike of an inch long. Native of the Cape. 



13. Gladiolus Alopecuroides; Fox-tail Corn Flag. Leaves 

 linear; spike distich, imbricate. The spike is covered, like 

 that of the Plantain, with very numerous small flowers, but 

 in a double row. It varies with the scape simple and branch- 

 ed, with corollas white and blue. Native of the Cape. 



14. Gladiolus Augustus ; Narrow-leaved Corn Flag. Leaves 

 linear, smooth ; flowers in spikes, distant; the upper seg- 

 ments of the corolla straight; stigmas spatulate, undivided; 

 scape simple, or but little branched, sheathed, round, stri- 

 ated, smooth, flexuose, erect, a foot high ; flowers all on the 

 same side, ascending, on one or two spikes a hand in length; 



rachis angular, flexuose, twisted, smooth; spathes the length 

 of the tube of the corolla, shorter than the branches, green. 

 Native of the Cape. 



15. Gladiolus Flavus; Yellow Corn Flag. Leaves lanceo- 

 late-sword-shaped, flat; the throat of the upper lip of the 

 corolla has three laminas, shaped like the nail, and placed 

 perpendicularly ; bractes acuminate. This differs from the 

 sixteenth species, in having the bractes acuminate, the whole 

 corolla intensely yellow, and the leaves a little broader. It 

 flowers in February and March. Native of the Cape. 



16. Gladiolus Securiger ; Copper-coloured Corn Flag. 

 Leaves linear-sword-shaped, flat; the throat of the upper lip 

 has three laminas, shaped like the nail, and placed perpen- 

 dicularly; bractes shorter; stalk roundish, a little shorter than 

 the leaves, sometimes branched ; bractes short, ovate, ob- 

 tuse, sometimes gashed at the tip, membranaceous; corollas 

 pale tawny; tube funnel-shaped, less than an inch in length; 

 segments of the border oblong-ovate, obtuse, sometimes ob- 

 scurely emarginate, shorter than the tube, the three upper 

 ones having in the chaps a yellow spot, with a border 

 of red round it, and three flat obtuse yellow laminas, a line 

 and half in diameter. It flowers in May. Native of the 

 Cape. 



17. Gladiolus Ramosus; Branched Corn Flag. Stem 

 branched; leaves linear. Native of the Cape. 



18. Gladiolus Capitatus; Crowned Corn Flag, Stem 

 branched; heads peduncled; root tuberous. This is a very 

 large plant, with blue flowers. Native of the Cape. 



19. Gladiolus Crispus; Curled Corn Flag. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, crenate, waved ; flowers directed the same way ; 

 spikes two; tube filiform, long; stem round, with one or two 

 crenate-waved leaves on it ; glumes obtuse, with a scariose, 

 toothletted, red margin ; tube of the corolla tv.'ice as long as 

 the border. This is two feet high.~ Native of the Cape. 



20. Gladiolus Junceus; Slender Corn Flag. Leaves broad- 

 lanceolate ; culm branched ; flowers directed the same way ; 

 style six-parted; stem a hand only in height, filiform, smooth, 

 with one or two patulous branchlets ; flowers alternate, ses- 

 sile; glumes ovate, entire; corolla violet-coloured, with a fili- 

 form tube, longer than the border. Native of the Cape. 



21. Gladiolus Anceps; Double Corn Flag. Leaves sword- 

 shaped, waved ; stem branched, ancipital, divaricate ; flow- 

 ers alternate at the tips of the branches; spathes very obtuse, 

 purple at the edge; tube of the corolla three or four times as 

 long as the border. Native of the Cape. 



22. Gladiolus Gramineus. Petals lanceolate, bristle-shaped, 

 acuminate ; stem more than a foot high, round, smooth, and 

 even, with few flowering branches; flowers few, at the end of 

 the stem ai;d branches ; spathes ovate-acuminate ; corolla 

 whitish, with a violet-coloured base, small, without a tube, 

 six-parted. Native of the Cape. 



23. Gladiolus Marginatus. Leaves cartilaginous, mar- 

 gined, smooth, many-nerved ; spike lengthened; flower al- 

 ternate, nodding; stems the thickness of a goose-quill; spike 

 very long, slightly flexuose between the flowers; spathel dis- 

 tant, the length of the bractes, which are often jagged at 

 the tip ; tube of the corolla twice as long as the spathes ; 

 segments of the border nearly equal, oblong, elliptic, purple. 

 Native of the Cape. 



24. Gladiolus Montanus ; Mountain Corn Flag. Leaves 

 sword-shaped, nerved, smooth; fldwers in spikes; corolla 

 ringent; stem round, leafless; spike oblong; with the flowers 

 rather remote; root-leaves narrow, linear, not above a line in 

 breadth, but nearly the length of the stem, smooth and even ; 

 upper lip or helmet of the corolla three-parted ; the middle 

 segment arched or bowed in, channelled, linear, ovate at the 



