Stem upright, near two feet high. Large branches few. Smaller ones numerous, and simple.
Leaves by fours, lance-shaped, prickly, deeply furrowed beneath. The footstalks pressed to the branches.
Flowers terminate the small branches by fours, hanging down; footstalks very short.
Empalement double: the outer one three-leaved, very large, broadly egg-shaped, furrowed, scaly, and toothed; pressed to the inner one, which is four-leaved.
Blossom cylindrical, closely beset with glandular hairs near an inch long; the inner part of the mouth hairy; the segments round, and rolled back.
Chives. Eight hair-like threads; tips beardless, and within the blossom. Shaft thread-shaped, and without the blossom. Summit four-cornered.
Native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Flowers from March till July.
REFERENCE.
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1. The underside of a Leaf magnified. 2. The Empalement magnified. 3. A Blossom magnified. 4. The Chives detached; one tip magnified. [Pg 50]5. Seed-bud and Pointal, summit magnified. 6. Seed-bud magnified. |