ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corolla 6-petala, patens, æqualis. Stigmata 3, erectiusculo-patula.
Blossom six petals, spreading equal. Summits three, nearly upright, and spreading.
See Ixia reflexa, Plate XIV.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Ixia foliis crispis; scapus ramosus, flexuosus, spithamæus; floribus sub-umbellatis, cæruleis.
Ixia with crisped leaves; flower-stem branched, waved, and a span high; flowers grow in partial umbels, and are blue.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The two Sheaths of the Empalement.
2. A Blossom cut open, to shew the insertion of the Chives.
3. A Chive (magnified).
4. The Pointal, one of the divisions of the Summit detached, and magnified.
This singular species of Ixia, is one amongst the many given by the Dowager Lady De Clifford to Messrs. Lee and Kennedy Hammersmith, in the year 1794; at which time, her ladyship had just received the bulbs in a present from the Cape. It is described by Thunberg, in his Dissertatio de Ixia, published in 1783. The root of this plant is of a most curious shape, having the appearance of being the half, rather than the whole; it is very delicate, is easily destroyed by moisture, therefore (except when in flower) should be kept very dry; it propagates by the root, the old one generally producing two; flowering about the month of June, or July, but requires the warmth of a moderate hothouse to expand its blossoms. Like other Cape bulbs, it should be planted in sandy peat.[Pg 142]