Volume 7 — PLATE CCCCLX.

LACHENALIA SESSILIFLORA.

Sessile-flowered Lachenalia.

CLASS VI. ORDER I.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 6-petala, infera; petalis 3 interioribus longioribus: stamina erecta: capsula sub-ovata, trialata: semina globosa.

Blossom 6-petaled beneath; the three inner petals the longest: chives erect: capsule nearly egg-shaped, three-winged: seeds globular.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lachenalia sessiliflora: foliis geminis, lanceolatis: scapo erecto, semi-pedali: floribus prope apices confertis, purpureis: petalis exterioribus cuneatis: interioribus duplo longioribus, angustis, truncatis.

Lachenalia with sessile flowers: leaves by pairs: stem upright, half a foot high: flowers grow crowded together near the top, and are of a purple colour: the outer petals are wedge-shaped: the inner ones twice the length, narrow, and appearing cut off at the end.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

This Lachenalia is perfectly new, an attraction that may counterbalance its want of speciosity. From the total absence of footstalks to the flowers we have derived its unoccupied specific title. Professor Jacquin has figured many handsome species of this genus not yet introduced to this country, and amongst the number two equally sessile with our plant, but in no other particular resembling it. From a drawing made for the collection of G. Hibbert, esq. in 1803 our figure was taken; since which period we have not seen any vestige of the plant, and therefore imagine that, like many other Cape bulbs, it is lost to us for the present: but it probably may soon reappear amongst the frequent importations we are in the constant habit of receiving from that inexhaustible botanic mine.