IBIDEM. 517 



II. GLADIOLUS. GLADIOLUS. 



Eootstock bulbous, the outer coating fibrous and more or less netted. 

 Stems leafy, witli a terminal, one-sided spike of flowers. Perianth oblique, 

 the segments obovate or oblong, narrowed into a claw, and united in a tube 

 at the base, the 3 upper ones and the 3 lower ones almost arranged in 2 

 lips. Stamens ascending under the uppei-most segments. Stigmas 2, 

 slightly expanded, and entire. 



A numerous genus, chiefly South African, with a few species in the Medi- 

 terranean and Caucasian regions. 



1. Common Gladiolus. Gladiolus communis^ Linn. 



Stem IJ- to near 2 feet liigh. Leaves Imear-lanceolate, shorter than the 

 stem. Spike of 4 to 6 or 8 red flowers, all turned to one side, and sessile 

 between 2 lanceolate bracts. Perianth about IJ- inches long, the expanded 

 part of the segments oblong -lanceolate, the uppermost broader and rather 

 longer than the others. Anthers linear, shorter than then- filaments. Cap- 

 sule short, depressed at the top, with 3 prominent angles. 



In meadows, woods, and grassy heaths, in central and southern Europe, 

 not reacliing nearer us on the Continent than the Loire and the Khine. 

 In Britain, recently observed in the New Forest, near Lyndhm'st, among 

 the Brakes, and believed to be indigenous, but possibly accidentally intro- 

 duced. Fl. early summer. The true Cornflaff (O. segetum), a cornfield 

 weed, is a rather more southern species, differing chiefly in its larger flowers, 

 with the anthers longer than their filaments. 



III. TRICHONEMA. TEICHONEMA. 



Small bulbous plants, with the foliage and flowers of Crocus, except that 

 the perianth-tube is very short, and the short stigmas are deeply 2-cleft. 

 A genus of very few species, chiefly from the Mediterranean region. 



1. Common Trichonema. Trichonema Bulbocodium, Sm. 



{Ixia, Eng. Bot. t. 2549.) 



Bulb small, with shining brown coats. Leaves very nari'ow and grass- 

 like, spreading, 3 or 4 inches long, sheathing at the base. Flower-stalk 

 not half so long, with a single erect terminal flower, almost sessile in a 

 sheathing bract, and of a pale purplish-blue, with a yellow centre. Perianth 

 near | inch long, the segments half-spreading and rather pointed. 



In heaths and sandy places, chiefly near the sea, nearly all round the 

 MediteiTanean, and up the western coasts of Europe, to the Channel Is- 

 lands and Devonshire, where it is found in abundance at the Warren, near 

 Dawlish. Fl. spring. 



IV. CROCUS. CROCUS. 



Eootstock bulbous, the outer coating fibrous, and more or less netted, 

 or rarely remaining membranous. Leaves radical, narrow -linear. Flowers 

 almost sessile among the leaves, with a very long tube, and a campanulate 

 limb of 6 nearly equal segments. Stigmas ddated, and coloured at the top, 

 and often cut or fringed, but not petal-like. Capsule buried among the leaves. 



A small south Eiu'opean and west Asiatic genus, a few species extending 



2 Y 



