ORTHROSANTHES MULTIFLORA. 
(Many-flowered Orthrosanthes.) 
Class. 
TRIANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural. Order. 
IRIDACE^. 
Generic Character.— S'paifte many-flowered, two- 
valved, keel-shaped, with a scarious margin, mem- 
branous. Perianth petaloid, salver-shaped ; tube very 
short and triangular ; limb six-parted, segments equal. 
Stamens three. Filaments connate below, inserted at 
the base of the exterior segments. Stigmas three, fili- 
form, dilated at the base, apex obtuse and fimbriated. 
Capsule oblong, three-angled. Seeds numerous. 
SPECiFrc Character. >— Plant a close-tufted herba 
ceous perennial. Zeai^es numerous, distichous, linearly 
ensiform, striated longitudinally, sheathing at the base. 
Scape of the same length as the leaves, a little branched 
Spathe with ovate-keeled valves. Flowers azure-blue 
only one from each spathe expanding at once. Fila 
ments blue and smooth. 
The earliest specimens of this interesting little plant known in this country, 
were raised from seeds collected near Lucky Bay in New Holland by Mr. William 
Baxter, about the year 1820. It does not appear to be yet very widely dissemi- 
nated ; certainly not to that extent to which its w^orth entitles it. It is, however, 
pretty abundant in some of the great nursery establishments in the suburbs of 
London. 
During the blooming period, it is a very suitable plant for the front stage of a 
greenhouse. Numerous offsets or suckers spring from the old plants, near the 
bottom of the stem, and protrude thick fleshy roots from their base, and thus a 
large tuft of healthy and vigorous-growing plants is soon obtained. They do not 
grow more than about a foot high, and the inflorescence is just elevated to about 
the same level as the tips of the leaves. No more than a single flower is developed 
at the same time from one spathe, but they are of considerable size, and the sheaths 
are numerous, consequently they make a good show. 
The flowers, however, do not remain expanded the whole day ; they open 
early in the morning and sometimes close soon after mid-day, but more commonly 
they remain unfolded until three or four o'clock. The same blossom re-opens for 
several successive days, and there is always another ready to display itself as the 
first dies, till the whole have expanded and closed and faded away. 
Although the greenhouse is decidedly the most proper place for it when in 
