1XIA, SPARAXIS AND TRITON I A. 
W HAT are popularly known as Cape Bulbs, from the 
fact of their being indigenous to the Cape of Good 
Hope, the most important varieties of which are the ixias, 
sparaxis and tritonia, combine in a remarkable degree 
those characteristics so important in house plants—floral 
beauty and easy cultivation. For the window garden we 
have nothing to compare with them as flowering plants, 
when we take into consideration their great beauty, the 
ease with which, under ordinary circumstances, they can be 
made to produce their exquisite flowers, and the low price 
for which the bulbs can be obtained. 
Their cultivation is of the most simple kind. In their 
native home, the year is divided into two portions, the dry 
and rainy seasons : during the one, the earth is saturated 
with moisture; during the other, parched with drought. 
Therefore, when the plants start into growth, give plenty 
of water and sun ; keep them vigorously growing until 
after the flowers have faded ; then dry them off gradually, 
by giving them daily less and less water, till the foliage 
withers ; and place them in a dry, airy place, without re¬ 
moving them from the pots, until another season of 
growth. The soil best suited for all the genera is a rich 
sandy loam, and the pots should have good drainage. 
They may be potted from September to December, and 
if brought forward at different times, a succession of 
bloom may be had from February to April. Water 
should be freely supplied with a syringe to destroy red 
spider, with which many of these plants are especial 
favorites. As soon as the flower stem appears, a few 
waterings of weak liquid manure will be found beneficial. 
They will ripen their bulbs within four weeks after flow¬ 
ering. All of this class of bulbs will thrive in a low tem¬ 
perature, but it is essential that they should have all the 
light that it is possible to give them, and plenty of air. 
These cultural instructions will apply to the whole class, 
and such special treatment as may be required will be 
given in our description of the several genera. 
THE IXIA. 
This is one of the most common of the Cape bulbs, 
and one of the easiest to manage, if there is any differ¬ 
ence ; it has narrow leaves, similar to the iris, and 
slender, simple or slightly branched stems, bearing spikes 
of large showy flowers, various in color, and exceedingly 
attractive when fully expanded by sunshine. They are 
not grown nearly so much as they deserve to be, partly 
because they are not known and more particularly be¬ 
cause they are not understood. When well grown they 
are charming house-plants, and remarkable for the bril¬ 
liancy of their colors. Five or six bulbs can be grown in 
a six-inch pot, and for good effect the bulbs should not be 
mixed—that is, but one color should be grown in a pot. 
Do not attempt to force these plants; they are impatient 
of much heat, which causes a deficiency in the size and 
number of flowers. The temperature sufficient to grow 
them in the greatest perfection is about sixty degrees by 
day to forty by night. This genus is composed of a large 
number of species, from which, by hybridization, an al¬ 
most endless number of pleasing varieties have been 
produced. Our preference in selection would be for the 
species, as we have not seen anything in the varieties to 
make them more valuable, either in size, form or bril¬ 
liancy of markings, than is to be found in parents. We 
have not space to give a description of the various 
species, and will only give that of I. viridiflora. A 
most lovely species; leaves very slender, flower spike 
very long, producing from ten to thirty flowers. Words 
cannot describe the beauty of this flower; the petals 
are of a peculiar vivid green, the base of each black ; 
stamens large and yellow; the contrast is most marked ; 
a very free bloomer of the easiest culture. Introduced 
from the Cape about the year 1780. 
THE SPARAXIS. 
This is a genus of splendid flowering plants which has 
been separated from the ixia, to which it is nearly 
allied, and which in foliage, growth and flower it much 
resembles. This genus is fast rising in the estimation of 
both the florist and the gardener, and only requires to 
become known to make it one of the most popular of 
house plants. The treatment is in every way identical 
with that prescribed for the ixia. It does not come into 
flower quite as early as the ixia, and for that reason can 
be most successfully grown in a cold frame, where it 
makes a very valuable plant for early summer flowers. As 
with the ixia, numerous varieties of the sparaxis have been 
produced, but the most desirable, either of species or 
varieties, is S. pulcherrima, of which the Garden says : 
“ It is so remarkably distinct from everything we have been 
in the habit of looking upon as a sparaxis, that its claim 
to be a member of that genus has often been the subject 
of comment. It is a most lovely plant; its tall and grace¬ 
ful flower-stems rise to a height of from five to six feet, 
and wave about when agitated by the wind, but are of so 
tough and wiry a character that they are never broken by 
a storm. It continues to produce its lovely deep rosy- 
purple foxglove-shaped bells on almost invisibly fine wire¬ 
like lateral foot-stalks for from six to seven weeks. The 
usual color of its bell-like blossoms is a rosy purple, but 
there are forms of purple-crimson and almost every inter¬ 
mediate shade to nearly white, and some are beautifully 
striped. An allied species is 5 . Thunbergi, but 5 . pul- 
cherrima is by far the finer and more elegant of the two. 
S. Thunbergi, although a very handsome plant, has 
nothing of the graceful waving beauty displayed by the 
tall, slender, arching flower-stems of S. pulcherrima. 
It has a stiffer habit and is a more dwarfish plant, with 
erect flower-stems seldom more than 2 ]/ z feet high. The 
flowers, moreover, have very short stalks, and are not 
pendulous like those of S. pulcherrima." 
THE TRITONIA. 
This very handsome genus is closely allied to both of 
the foregoing, but far surpasses them in beauty and use- 
