Volume 2 — PLATE CXXXIV. IXIA CROCATA. Var. nig. maculata. Crocus flowered Ixia. Var. black spotted.

CLASS III. ORDER I.

TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Three Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 6-petala, patens, æqualis.

Stamina tria, erectiusculo-patula.

Blossom 6-petals, spreading, equal.

Chives three, upright and spreading.

See Ixia reflexa. Pl. XIV. Vol. I.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ixia foliis falcatis, flaccidis; floribus alternis, sessilibus; petalis tribus exterioribus basi gibbis maculatisque.

Ixia with scimitar-shaped limber leaves; flowers grow alternate and close to the stem; the three outer petals are gouty and spotted at the base.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The two Spaths of the Empalement. 2. The Flower cut open and expanded, with the Chives attached. 3. The Seed-bud, Shaft and Summits, the Summits detached and magnified.

This variety of Crocus-flowered Ixia was introduced, according to the Kew Catalogue, Vol. I. p. 60, in the year 1774, by Mr. F. Masson, from the Cape of Good Hope, and there, is treated as a distinct species, under the name of I. deusta. From the number of drawings we possess of this tribe of plants, having nineteen distinct varieties of this one species, and in the close investigation we have given them, in their flowering, for a number of years; having found them to sport in colour, &c. from the same root, but much more so from seed; enables us decisively to place this plant as a variety to I. crocata. It is one of the most hardy of the Genus, and propagates itself by the root. The flowers are produced about May, in which month 1799, our drawing was taken, at the Hammersmith nursery; since, we have not seen it in any collection; which leads us to think it is not a free blower, as the roots are not scarce.

PLATE 134