I ì.
riri
•rii
’rii;
GLADIOLUS cochleatus.
Spoon-lipped Corn-flag.
Linnean Class and Order. T R IA N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
Natural Order. I r i d e ä . Brown prodr. 1. p . 362.
G L A D IO L U S , lnflorescentia spicata, rarò sola. Spatha bivalvis,
oblonga (modò longissima). Perianthium tubuloso-sexfidum, irreguläre
vel subajquale : tubi fa u x brevis turbinata v. abrupte cylindracea atque
longa: limbus plerumque nutans. Stamina 3, secunda (adscendentia).
S ty li 1 : stigmata 3, ouneato-ligularia, condiiplicata, integra. Capsula
membranacea, ovato v. oblonga, trigona. Semina biserialia, alato-paleacea,
numerosa, cumulata.—Herbm subpedales v. ultra tripedales. Bulbotuber
ovatum vel rotundum vel depressiùs orbiculatum; exuviis contextu maximè
vario. Folia collateralia, p lura, linearia vel latiùs gladiata, nervo medio
p rin c ip i costata, vel subtetraquetra, v. decussata modo cartilagine crassiore
marginata. Caulis teres rarò angulosus, simplex vel subramosus. Flores
grandes, speciosi, dissiti, rarò p a rv i densi. Stylus gracilis, tristriato f ili-
f o rmis. Semen alato-paleaceum, cvjus testa sicca tenui ampia subvacua
albumine parvo foeta è cavitate in marginem comprimitur. Ker Iridearum
Genera 1827. p. 129. parum mutatum.
G . cochleatus, foliis angusto-linearibus binerviis strictis rigidis glaucescentibus
elongatis ; apice attenuatis : marginibus et nervo medio promi-
nentibus, scapo simplici gracili elato, segmentis perianthii patentibus
elliptico-ovatis obtusis: superioribus minoribus intus rubro-pictis: inferioribus
adscendentibus cochleato-concavis, tubo brevi spathis multum
breviore.
Stem slender, in our plant 20 inches and a half in length,
somewhat glaucous, and striated downwards, leafy all the
way up. Leaves varying in length upwards, somewhat glaucous,
narrowly linear, elongated, and tapering to a slender
point, straight and rigid; lower owci 2-nerved, the nerves and
margins thickened and prominent, the middle nerve very
much so on both sides : about a line and half in breadth at
the base, sheathing the stem a considerable distance up :
upper ones narrower and shorter, concave inwards, more glaucous.
Flowers 2 in our specimen. Spalhe 2-valved, outer
one much longer than the inner one, but both longer than
the tube of the perianthium, which they clasp nearly to the
top, broadly lanceolate before the flower expands, afterwards
rolling inwards and appearing narrower, glaucous,
and striated with numerous small stripes. Ferianlhium snowy
white, with a very short tube ; limb 6-cleft : 3 upper segments
about half the size of the lower ones, and more erect, but
slightly bent backwards; outer one of the three, wedge
shaped, marked with an open compass-shaped red mark,
full
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