REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A Leaf from the lower part of the Stem.
2. The Empalement.
3. A Blossom cut open, to shew the situation of the Chives, and the imperfect rudiments of a fifth.
4. The Seed-vessel, and Pointal, (natural size).
The Chelone Ruellioides is a native of Chili, South America, and was introduced to the royal gardens at Kew in the year 1793, by Mr. Boutelow, the son of the gardener to the King of Spain, who was then in England pursuing his botanical studies. It is (apparently) a hardy plant, and fit to endure the open borders, but, as yet, we have not had a sufficient trial to ascertain it; hitherto it has been treated as a greenhouse plant. Being herbaceous, it is propagated by parting the roots, which should be done in spring, about the month of March. The proper season of its flowering cannot well be determined, as it has undergone such various treatment. The plant from which this figure was made was in full bloom at the gardens of G. Hibbert, Esq. Clapham, in the month of June 1797, where it was seen to flower, for the first time in this country. The soil it seems to thrive in most, is a composition of loam, and rotten dung.[Pg 138]
PLATE 34
PLATE XXXV.
IXIA CRISPIFOLIA. Var. flore cæruleo.
Crisped-leaved Ixia. Blue Variety.
CLASS III. ORDER I.
TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Three Chives. One Pointal.