SISYRIN'CHIUM BERMUDIA'NUM. 
BERMUDA SISYRINCHIUM. 
Class. Order. 
TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
IRIDE*. 
Native of 
Heiglit. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Bermudas. 
1 foot. 
June, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1732. 
No. 381. 
Sisyrinchium is a compound Greek word, formed 
of SY.S, a pig; and rhygchos, a snout; but the 
original plant known by this name, and also its ap- 
plication, are now subjects of conjecture only. It 
is mentioned by Pliny, after Theophrastus, as a bulb, 
producing, in winter, a downward growing pro- 
tuberance, which in spring was again imbibed by 
the bulb above it. The rocky islands, of which our 
present plant is native, yield it a specific application. 
This unobtrusive and pretty plant is not very com- 
mon, but deserves to be better known. Its flowers, 
like those of Sisyrinchium anceps, which is a smaller 
species, decline rather quickly under exposure to 
the sun, therefore the plant is most advantageously 
grown in an aspect where it is shaded after nine or 
ten o’clock in the morning. It will then become 
showy. From its height and neatness it should oc- 
cupy a place near the front of the parterre. 
It delights in a soil composed of loam and peat. 
This particular mixture is, nevertheless, not indis- 
pensable. It may be raised from seeds, or divided at 
the root. If produced from seeds, they should be sown 
as soon as ripe, and have a little shelter from frost. 
96 Hort. Kew. 2, v. 4, 135. 
