CAPE FLOWERS 
203 
cock, as the stamens hang out from the cups in most inconstant 
directions. It was introduced to Europe as late as 1846. 
The Torch lilies, flame lilies orTritomas, are often known as 
“ red hot pokers,” from the fiery glowing spike of flowers rising 
from a group of narrow rigid three-edged leaves. The plant 
was originally called Kniphofia, from Johann Hieronymus 
Kniphof, a Professor of Medicine at Erfurt, about 1750. There 
are only about sixteen species of Tritomas, all natives of South 
Africa and Madagascar. 
The delicate creeper of our greenhouses, the Cape lead wort, 
is Plumbago capensis. Its name is said by some to be derived 
from the blue of its flowers, not unlike the colour of pure 
lead. Others say that a decoction of the plant is made which is 
good for the eyes. The flowers are loosely aggregated together, 
of a soft azure blue colour, mid-veined with violet. The stem is 
angular. It was introduced to Europe about 1818. 
The Ixias, or Corn lilies, have attracted some passing notice 
of late years, as having been worn by some of the ladies attend- 
ing Queen Victoria’s Drawing Rooms. They are sun-loving 
plants with red flowers, ranging from pale salmon pink to the 
most glowing red, lily-like in form, and rising from sheaths of 
slender green spears. There are about twenty-five species, all 
natives of South Africa. Our earliest importation was about 
^ 757 - 
The Lachenalias, or Cape cowslips or Leopard lilies, are only 
similar to our well-known cowslips in their colour. They have 
not Shakespeare’s “rubies, fairy favours” in their gold coats, 
however. They are liliaceous plants, the yellow flowers, shading 
off into flakes of darker orange, hanging loosely from the green 
stem. The leaves are large, thick, glossy, and fleshy, and often 
richly coloured. Jacquin described them as Lachenalia, in honour 
of Wernerus de l.a Chenal, a Swiss botanist. 
The headquarters of the Gladiolus are in South Africa, 
although we have received plants from various other regions 
of the globe. We have so many garden varieties, and so many 
flowers exposed on the street stalls, that we need hardly allude 
to more than the deep scarlet beauty of the Gladiolus cavdinalis. 
This is a Byzantine species, brought from Turkey in 1629. The 
parrot-hke variety of our mid-summer flowering is a native of 
Natal. Our earliest importation seems to have been about 1774. 
The snowy-white racemes of flowers of the greenhouse 
varieties of the Star of Bethlehem had their original home at 
the Cape. Gerard speaks of “ wilde felde onions called Starres 
of Bethlehem,” so that the genus, which really belongs to the 
onion tribe, was known in Europe some time before the Cape 
sent its contribution. Our earliest note of the Cape importation 
is in 1774. 
The Grimms are lilies, with beautiful bell-shaped flowers of 
various colours, mostly a bright red. One of the finest species, 
Grimm Moorei, was only introduced from Natal as late as 1874. 
Our earliest knowledge of them seems to have been in 1752. 
