M. Page del.
Plate 45.
WATSONIA Galpinii.
Cape Province.
Iridaceae. Tribe Ixieae.
Watsonia, Mill.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. viii. p. 705.
Watsonia Galpinii, L. Bolus. Ann. Bolus Herb. vol. iii. p. 11.
We have pleasure in figuring in this number, through the kindness of the Curator of the Bolus Herbarium, our first species of one of the most popular of South African genera, namely, Watsonia. Species of this genus have long been known in European Gardens, where they were introduced by the early botanical collectors from the Cape. The genus is represented in South Africa by about twenty species, and with the exception of a species which occurs in Madagascar, are confined to the sub-continent. The Watsonias lend themselves to hybridising, and some very fine garden hybrids have been produced.