Rhexias, in particular, are a great ornament. There is an endless va- 
riety of species, all low shrubs; the numerous, thin, profusely-leaved 
stalks, are covered with beautiful red and violet-coloured blossomis. 
Stately stems of blue Vellozias and gay Barbacenias, the representa- 
tives of liliaceous plants, principally adorn the stony eminencés. Of 
the family of the Gentians, there are many species of Lisianthus, which 
call to mind the equality of the diffusion of certain families, through 
many remote countries.” Sprx and Martivs’s Travels in Brazil, II, 
138 and 159. 
The limited geographical range of the genera Vellozia and Barba- 
cenia is not the only peculiarity connected with them, as the stem pre- 
sents a remarkable organization. ‘‘This part consists of a central 
slender subcylindrical column, which never increases in diameter after 
its first formation, and which has the ordinary monocotyledonous (en- 
dogenous) structure. Outside of the column are arranged great quan- 
tities of slender fibrous roots, which cohere firmly by their own cellular 
surface, and form a spurious kind of wood, which is extremely like that 
of some kinds of Palm wood, only it is developed by constant additions 
to the very outside of the original stem. Something analagous occurs 
in Pandanus.” Lindley: Natural System, 2 ed. p. 334 
A difference of opinion exists among systematic Botanists as to the 
tribe to which Barbacenia and Vellozia properly belong. Martius, 
Bartling, and Endlicher, (and Lindley in the first edition of his Natu- 
ral System) refer them to Hemodoracee, while Kunth places them 
under Bromeliacee. Don considers them as forming a group inter- 
mediate between Iridacee and Hypoxidacee, and designates it Vello- 
ziee. Lindley has subsequently adopted Kunth’s opinion, and removed 
them to Bromeliacee. The somewhat spiral position of the leaves of 
Barbacenia, resembling those of the Ananas or pine-apple, gives some 
countenance to this m , but on the whole we Jean to the view taken 
by Martius, who has a greater knowledge of them than any mere Eu- 
- ropean botanist. 
INTRODUCTION; WHERE GROWN; CuLTurRE. To the care and ob- 
servation of the Honourable and Reverend William Herbert, of Spof- 
forth, the lovers of new objects of cultivation are indebted for this 
plant. He picked the seeds out of a parcel of Brazilian moss, and 
was rewarded by this novel flower, in 1825. It is an attractive ever- 
green stove perennial, which still continues scay@e in our gardens, and 
