PLATE VEE 
GROUP OF IRIDEA. 
Tuts charming bouquet represents several species of the genera Iria and Tritonia, bulbous 
plants evidently very closely related to the subjects of the preceding and following plate. The 
Cape Iridez, as a whole, form an exceedingly natural assemblage, and each genus, taken by 
itself, is also truly natural ;—that is, its members agree in certain common characters by which 
they also differ from the members of all the other genera. When we sort out the different 
kinds from an extensive suite of the order and place those that most nearly resemble each other 
together, the distinction of generic types becomes apparent ;— but when, as in the group here 
drawn, no assortment is attempted, the species have so many links one to another that the 
notice of diverse genera is lost sight of. There is so close an agreement in the habit and 
general aspect that one would scarcely suppose any essential differences could here exist,—but 
the botanist, who is forced to look closely to such matters, soon discovers many important 
technical characters, by an attention to which he is enabled to classify this very extensive family 
on natural principles. 
The most remarkable plant in the present group is the Green flowered Tritonia (Tritonia 
viridis) distinguished at once by the very peculiar colour of its blossoms. Green flowers are of 
rare occurrence in any family of plants, even when the green is of the kind called herbaceous — 
but here we have an example of a much more uncommon vegetable colour, a verdegris-green. 
This is not however the only Cape Irideous plant with green blossoms; there is also a green 
Gladiolus with helmet-shaped flowers. The dark centre of the flower in Thitonia viridis contrasts 
well with the green star, and adds greatly to its beauty. A centre similarly dark in proportion 
to the border of the flower, of what colour soever the border may be, is a general feature among 
the species of Je’a and of neighbouring genera. ; 
These plants are so full of grace and beauty that it is no marvel they should be universal 
favourites with cultivators at the Cape. But they rarely find equal favour with the botanist i— 
chiefly because they set his systems at nought. Innumerable varieties, intermediate forms 
and hybrids abound among them, and perhaps there is no family of equal extent in which so 
many false species have been made, or which is so little understood by systematic writers. 
Nor is their cultivation in this Country often, except as regards a few hardy species, attended 
with success, partly perhaps for want of proper attention being directed to the subject. The 
Cape Iridew rank among the wzcertain plants. Some bear our climate well and multiply in our 
gardens without care or trouble—while others are so delicate that few cultivators can long 
preserve them from perishing, and they are only retained in cultivation by constant fresh 
importations from the Cape. And it is rather curious that some of the hardier kinds are 
natives of parts of South Africa nearer to the tropic than some of the less hardy kinds. Thus 
the Gladiolus psittacinus, which multiplies so freely in our gardens that it almost becomes a 
weed, is a native of Port Natal, a district considerably more tropical than Groenekloof, of 
