Leaves in threes, subulate, hairy, a little flexuose, with foot-stalks pressed to the branches; the younger leaves rather spreading, the older reflexed.
Flowers terminal on the small lateral branches, one to three together, pendulous, incurved, with short foot-stalks.
Empalement double, bright shining-red, tinctured with yellow, the outer three-, the inner four-leaved, with all the leaflets broad egg-shaped.
Blossom club-shaped, incurved, an inch long, bright-shining-red, swelled and quadrifid at the base, with the segments of the mouth incurved and pressed to the filaments.
Chives eight hair-like incurved threads fixed to the receptacle; tips beardless very long, and without the blossom.
Pointal. Germen turban-shaped. Shaft thread-shaped. Summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from January till April.
REFERENCE.
|
1. The under-side of a Leaf magnified. 2. The Empalement magnified. 3. A Blossom detached from the Empalement. 4. The Chives and Pointal. 5. The same spread open, with one tip magnified. 6. The Seed-bud and Pointal, with the summit magnified[Pg 189]. |