32 MORE POT-POURRI 



was employed by the Spanish Government to examine 

 into ' the virtues ' of the plants of the New World. It 

 was not introduced into England till 1796. It is suffi- 

 ciently hardy to be left in the ground all the winter, were 

 t not on account of the danger to which it would bo 

 exposed from damp. It is better to take it up in 

 September or October, tie it in bundles, and hang it up 

 in a dry place till spring. Why it is always grown by 

 gardeners in pots I do not know. In his last edition 

 Mr. Eobinson speaks very favourably of growing it out of 

 doors, and mentions particularly the ivory-white one with 

 carmine-red base, which I saw last year and thought very 

 beautiful. What he says about cultivation is exactly 

 what I have quoted above from Mrs. Loudon. In fact, 

 treat them exactly as one would the Gandavensis gladioli. 

 Gerarde in his Herbal speaks with delightful distrust 

 of the very existence of the Tigridia as described 

 by travellers. After trying to illustrate the plant from 

 description he goes on to say : ' The second feigned 

 picture hath beene taken of the Discouerer and others of 

 later time, to be a kinde of Dragons not seene of any that 

 haue written thereof ; which hath moued them to thinke 

 it a feigned picture likewise ; notwithstanding you shall 

 receiue the description thereof as it hath come to my 

 hands. The root (saith my Author) is bulbous or Onion 

 fashion, outwardly blacke ; from the which springs vp 

 long leaues, sharpe pointed, narrow, and of a fresh greene 

 colour : in the middest of which leaues rise vp naked or 

 bare stalkes, at the top whereof groweth a pleasant 

 yellow floure, stained with many small red spots here 

 and there confusedly cast abroad : and in the middest of 

 the floure thrusteth forth a long red tongue or stile, 

 which in time groweth to be the cod or seed-vessell, 

 crooked or wreathed, wherein is the seed. The virtues 

 and temperature are not to be spoken of, considering that 



