IXIA LONGIFLORA.— THE LONG FLOWER IXIA. 
Class III. TRIANDRIA. — Order 
Natural Order, GLAD 
I. MONOGYNIA. 
IOLEil. 
The spatha (or sheaths,) which inclose the germen is oblong, permanent. The flowers, which are produced 
in July, have six petals which are equal; three awl-shaped stamina. The germen oval, three-cornered, 
situated below the flower, with a single style. 
There are many species of Ixia, varying in colour; they have bulbous roots, and may be increased by 
their offsets; but they will not flower well if parted oftener than every third year. In the autumn the 
stalks and leaves decay ; the roots should then be put under shelter for the winter, unless it is designed to 
remove them ; in which case they may be treated in the same manner as the Hyacinth, and bulbs in gene- 
ral, and may be replanted any time between October and January. They may stand abroad in the summer, 
and should then have a little water every evening : they should be sparingly watered in the winter, when 
left in the earth. Pots three inches in diameter, and five in depth, will be large enough for these plants : 
the bulbs should be covered about an inch deep. 
The Cape of Good Hope, which is so fertile in bulbous flowers, gives birth to a great variety of Ixias. 
Thunberg mentions two in particular : “The Ixia bulbifera, a bulbous plant, with a red flower, grew here in 
the greatest abundance. When one approached the place where it grew, it seemed to be but thinly scattered 
over the field, but at a distance, the ground appeared as if it were covered with scarlet cloth 
Here and here only was found, beside the brooks, a green variety of the Ixia maculata, 
another tall bulbous plant, which is as elegant as singular, with its long cluster of green flowers, growing out 
like an ear of corn, and is extremely scarce all over the world.” 
There is scarcely any situation, unfavourable to vegetation, where plants and flowers are not occasion- 
ally found. On one of the highest points in Europe, upwards of eight thousand feet above the level of the 
sea, at the foot of the Grand Jorasse, far up the stupendous glacier of the Mer de Glace, is a verdant gar- 
den, surrounded with snows that never melt. It is called Le Jardin, and is covered with Alpine plants, and 
a luxuriant herbage in quest of which the Swiss peasantry drive their cattle, at certain seasons of the year, 
over the icy sea. 
Mr. Raffles mentions several instances of a similar description in his elegant and animated “ Tour to the 
Glaciers of Savoy.” In speaking of the vale of Chsfeiouny, he notices the striking appearance of meadows 
surrounded by woods of unchanging verdure, and ice that never melts. This beautiful valley afforded a 
grand and imposing spectacle ; it was eighteen miles in length, and about one in breadth, environed by 
mountains of appaling height, and presenting an endless variety of grand and terrific forms. Bare and rug- 
ged rocks were every where discoverable, the peaks of which, covered with snowy mantles, seemed to prop 
the heavens, and to forbid the daring footsteps of man, while from their sides and their brows were rolled 
down vast accumulations of ice, to blend their fantastic shapes and mingling hues with the softer scenery 
below ; and, in the midst of all, the life and business of husbandry and pasturage, proceeded at an elevation 
of more than three thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
The ocean has also its peculiar flora; “Millions of plants,” says an elegant writer, “ form shades to 
innumerable fishes, that never quit their native beds ; all of which speak a language far more emphatic 
than the thunders of the Vatican. They have their mountains and their vallies, their plains, recesses, and 
coves, in which to strike root: inhabitants to wonder at their calyxes, petals, and corollas, and to feed upon 
their redundancies.” In the Red Sea, and upon the coasts of Patagonia, as well as in the Atlantic, these 
plants rise from the bottom of the sea to the top ; and are so numerous in some places as to interrupt the 
sailing of the largest ships. 
Neither the extremes of heat nor cold are able entirely to impede the progress of vegetation. Lichens 
have been discovered near the margin of sulphureous volcanoes, and even on the icebergs of the Polar re- 
gions. 
Plants have also been found growing on animal productions, which resemble in their construction those 
of the genus clavaria, the stalks and branches being' generally terminated by tubercles, or little clubs. One 
