Volume 3 — PLATE CXCVI. IXIA MACULATA. Spotted-flowered Ixia.

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, spreading.

See Ixia Reflexa, Pl. XIV. Vol. I.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ixia foliis ensiformibus, glabris, scapo duplo brevioribus; floribus alternis, sub-spicatis; petalis basi obscuris, ovatis, concavis; stigmatibus bifidis.

Ixia with sword-shaped, smooth leaves, half the length of the flower-stem; flowers alternate, rather spiked; petals dark at the base, egg-shaped and concave; summits two-cleft.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. The two valves of the Empalement.

2. A Flower cut and spread open, with the Chives in their natural station.

3. The Pointal complete, with one of the Summits detached and magnified.

This Ixia has been long cultivated in Britain, so says Millar, &c. but, till within these few years, we have not seen it in our gardens; perhaps it has been (like many others) lost to us, and recently introduced with the multitude of other species, which now decorate our green-houses; either from the Cape of Good Hope or Holland. It is one of the most desirable of the genus, from the length of time it continues in flower; which is, at least a month, from the first flowers beginning to expand. It increases by the bulb, and is to be cultivated as other common Ixias. Flowers in May or June.