THE 
FLORIST'S JOURNAL. 
February 1 , 1841 . 
TIGRIDIA CONCHIIFLORA. 
This splendid flower, which we have selected as our illustration 
of this number, has the advantage of being anybody’s flower 
who chooses to bestow even a very moderate degree of care upon 
it. It belongs to the Monandria Triandria of the Linnsean ar¬ 
rangement; and to the order Iridece , the Iris, or Flags, of the 
natural system. The name is given in consequence of the rich 
mottling of colour upon the petals, which bears a slight resem¬ 
blance to the markings of a tiger. There are only two species 
of the genus ; the present one, Conchiiflora, so called from the 
shell or cup-like depression in the sepals; and Pavonia, which 
has the sepals red, and is perhaps altogether richer in the colours 
than this one. They are both natives of Mexico, from which 
Pavonia was imported in 1796, and Conchiiflora in 1824. 
Though gay, the flowers of both are very perishable, opening 
in the morning and fading off by the evening. Some amends 
is, however, made for this, in the readiness with which the suc¬ 
cession-flowers come on ; for, when properly treated, the same 
plant will show a new flower every day for three weeks or a 
month. 
There is something worth attending to in those plants of which 
the flowers are so very perishable. They indicate great fertility; 
and this is exemplified in Tigridia, which produces abundance or 
seeds, and at the same time increases very fast by bulbs. 
These plants are so free growers and so hardy, that if they 
are placed in a southern exposure, protected by a wall, the bulbs 
may be left in the ground all winter, without sustaining, any 
VOL. II. NO. II. e 
