GLADIOLUS NATALENSIS. 
249 
GLADIOLUS HAT ALE A SIS, Yars. 
Nat. Order .— I rid ace a;. 
Generic Character. — Gladiolus, Tournefort.— Perianth 
corolline, superior, irregular ; tube rather terete; limb six- 
parted and two-lipped, the lobes unequal. Stamens three, in¬ 
serted in the tube of the perianth, erect or sub-secund, included 
or exserted; filaments filiform; anthers linear, affixed by the 
back above the base. Ovary inferior, obtusely three-sided, 
three-celled; mules numerous in many rows in the central 
angle of the cells, pendulous, anatropous; style filiform; stigmas 
three, petaloid-dilated. Capsule membranous, three-celled, lo- 
culieidally three-valved. Seeds numerous, pendulous, flat-com¬ 
pressed, winged, or more rarely globose, sub-baccate, with a 
loose or fleshy testa; raphe free within the testa. Embryo axile, 
but little shorter than the fleshy albumen, with the radicle 
reaching the hilum, superior.—Herbs, rare in Central Europe 
and the Mediterranean region; abundant and varied at the 
Cape of Good Hope; roots bulbous-tuberous; leaves two-ranked, 
equitant; flowers secund in a simple spike, often nodding; 
spathe two-valved, persistent.—( Endl. Gen. Plant. 1239.) 
Gladiolus xatalensis, Reinicardt .— Leaves sword-shaped, 
ribbed in the middle, obscurely nerved; flowers bell-shaped; 
outer segments broadly ovate, obtuse and mucronulate; ante¬ 
rior inner segments linear oblong, the posterior obovate and 
convex. 
Syn.—G ladiolus psittacinus, Hooker. 
Fig. 1. Var. roseo -purpureas. — Rosy - purple Comflag.— 
Flowers deep rose-red, marked with deeper purple-red. 
Fig. 2. — Var. Oldfordiensis. — Oldford Cornflag. — Flowers 
delicate salmony flesh colour, marked with purple. 
B ESCEIPTIOH.—Perennial herbs, with “biilhons-tuberons" roots, or conns; stems erect, 
three to four feet high, with two-ranked equitant sword-shaped leaves, and terminated by 
the long crowded flower spikes. The flowers in the variety roseo-pnrpureus, are about three 
inches in diameter, of a deep rosy red, the upper divisions aeutish, the lower segments streaked 
and veiny towards the throat with deeper purple red on a creamy ground; with age the red 
becomes discharged in streaks, giving the flowers the appearance of being mottled and streaked 
with white. In Oldfordiensis the flowers are of a delicate flesh colour with a salmony tinge, 
the upper segments broad, the lower divisions marked with a strong central and two or three 
smaller purple streaks, and becoming cream-coloured below; the flowers are about three inches 
in diameter. In both varieties, the flowers form a dense spike nearly a foot and a half in 
length. 
History, &c. —These fine varieties were raised at the same time with the G. AVillmoreanus, 
figured at p. 169 of the present volume, and were obligingly communicated to us along with 
specimens of the latter by Mr. Cole, gardener to J. Mb'!bn ore, Esq., of Oldford. Their origin 
and cultivation are sufficiently explained at the page just referred to.—M. 
-4- 
OH THE ASSIMILATIOH OE THE AZOTE OE THE AIE, EY PLAHTS; AHD OH 
THE IHELTJEHCE WHICH AMMOHIA EXEECISES OH YEGETATIOH. 
By M. YILLE.* 
/flOE several years I have been occupied with researches on vegetation; and the results I have no 
A doubt, will be found interesting. At an early period M. Th. de Saussure had observed that in the 
dissolution of sulphate of alumina it was changed into an ammoniacal alum when exposed to contact 
with the ah, and when this exposure was sufficiently prolonged. This observation, which was made I 
believe in 1804, places beyond a doubt the presence of ammonia among the elements of our atmosphere. 
Since this observation was first made by M. Th. de Saussure, various chemists have been occupied in 
determining the ammonia of the ah by methods more expeditious and certain. The importance winch 
physiologists attach to the ammoniacal compounds in the development of plants, may serve to explain 
the eagerness in which chemists have engaged to effect tins determination. At the present day, 
indeed, ammonia is considered the source from winch the vegetable kingdom derives the azote which it 
consumes, whether this ammonia comes from the soil, manures, or the atmosphere. 
Having perceived, by a long series of analyses—performed on masses of ah much more considerable 
than those winch had been previously operated on—that the quantity of ammonia which the ah 
contains is scarcely appreciable when all accidental emanations winch might be introduced hito the 
analysis are guarded against, I have been led to doubt the reality of the part which has been attributed 
to it in the phenomena of vegetation. 
In order to dissipate the doubts which arose in my mind, I sowed a certain number of seeds in a 
mixture of equal parts of wlhte sand and powdered brick, which had been deprived, by calcination for 
several days in a porcelain oven, of all the organic matters which it could contain. This mixture, 
which was parted in a certain number of pots, received an addition of five per cent, of the ashes 
* From tlie Comptes Pendus. 
2 Cr 
YOL. II. 
