92 ON HYBRIDIZATION AMONGST VEGETABLES. 



within the scope of regular systematic views. When we turn to 

 the multitudinous iridaceous plants of the Cape territory we 

 find no less difficulty, and the subdivisions are baffled by forms, 

 of which it is difficult to dispose consistently. Sweet's small 

 Orthrosanthus multiflorus was naturally remanded by Dr. Lindley 

 to the Sisyrinchiums, because its flower seemed to conform with 

 some which were not peculiarly allied to it ; but no person can 

 look on Mr. Mangles's Orthrosanthus caeruleus, a plant of the 

 largest growth amongst those races, and another lovely species 

 introduced by him, which I call O. gracilis, and not at once 

 recognise the aspect of Orthrosanthus, the inflorescence being 

 borne on the axils of the flower-stems, instead of being simply 

 terminal, which is a feature of considerable importance, and 

 seems to indicate that the race is at least now distinct. We are 

 labouring, therefore, under great difficulty in assigning the just 

 demarcations to the genera or kinds ; and it is evident that atten- 

 tion to the cultivated forms and intermixture of plants is no less 

 essential to botanical knowledge than the inspection of wild 

 specimens. By that we are enabled to learn how far the off- 

 spring of individuals can sport at the present day, and how far 

 those which seem to be distinct are capable of union ; and by a 

 survey of the results it may perhaps become apparent at last 

 whether that union is in truth only a reunion of things that 

 have been severed in ancient times. 



The genus Hymenocallis was mainly separated into species, as 

 Dr. Roxburgh had distinguished the East Indian forms of 

 Crinum, by the proportionate length of the tube and limb. That 

 answered tolerably well as a prevailing feature, while the known 

 forms were few, although we often found great difference in the 

 proportion of flowers on the same umbel ; but the species have 

 poured in upon us from so many localities, without certain indi- 

 cations of their natural habitation, and so many mules, bred 

 accidentally as well as intentionally under cultivation, have been 

 mixed with them, that it becomes almost vain to attempt to 

 continue subdividing them further into species ; and it can only 

 be said of each fresh variety, without the particulars of its habi- 

 tation, that it is an Hymenocallis. I was able on the first sight 

 of two forms brought by Mr. Cuming from Manilla, though 

 new to me as to their peculiarities, to say that he had got 

 them from a garden where they had been probably introduced 

 on the removal of some governor and his family from Spanish 

 America to the East, because Hymenocallis is peculiar to the 

 western hemisphere ; and he at once admitted the fact to be so. 

 The more deeply plants are investigated, the more will it be 

 felt that the establishment of kinds or genera, the discrimination 

 of their higher affinities, and the pursuit of specific diversities 



