IKIDACEiE. 141 



The flower in the figure given in tliis work is considerably larger 

 than it ought to be. 



Columna's Trichonema. 



French, BomuUe de Columna. 



GENUS IIL—Qc LADIOLUS. Toumef. 



Perianth iiTegular, petaloid, tube extending a little way above the 

 ovary, and more or less curved ; limb 6-partite, the segments unequal, 

 disposed in a subbilabiate manner. Stamens 3, inserted in the tube 

 of the perianth, subsecund, included or exserted; anthers linear, 

 affixed by the back above the base. Ovary adhering to the base 

 of the perianth tube, green, subglobulai'-ovoid, bluntly trigonous; 

 style filiform, elongate; stigmas 3, obovate or oblanceolate, sub- 

 petaloid, undivided. Capsule of the consistence of parchment, ovoid 

 or turbinate-ovoid, trigonous, locuhcidally 3-valved. Seeds numerous, 

 globular, compressed, and surrounded by a membranous wing, rarely 

 globose with a soft testa and no ■wing. 



Herbs ^vith corms with a covering of netted or parallel fibres, and 

 leafy stems with equitant and ensifonn parallel-nerved leaves and 

 sho^vy spicate often secmid ascending or horizontal flowers enclosed in 

 2- or 3-valved sub herbaceous spathes. Rarely the leaves have their 

 section in the form of a cross. 



This genus derives its name from the diminntive of gladius, a sword, from the shape 

 of its leaves. 



SPECIES I.-GLADIOLUS I^LYRICUS. Koch. 



Plate MCCCCXCni, 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. IX. Tab. CCCLII. 



G. communis, Hook. ^ Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 441. Benth. Handb. Brit. Fl. ed. ii. 



p. 465 (nonAuct. Pliir.). 

 G. imbricatus, Bab. Arm. Nat. Hist. Ser. II. VoL XX. p. 158 (non Reich.). 



Corms ovate-ovoid, acuminate, clothed with subparallel fibres 

 forming a network only towards the apex. Leaves linear-ensiform. 

 Flowers secund. Spathe of two slightly unequal acuminated herba- 

 ceous halves with scarious margins much shorter than the flowers. 

 Uppermost segment of the perianth oblanceolate-spathulate, arched, 

 separate from the lateral ones in the lower half, but covered by their 

 edges in the apical half ; uppermost lateral segments oblanceolate 

 towards the apex and linear-subparallel below. Stamens shorter than 

 the filaments. Seeds with a membranous Avin"-. 



