be shewn in a small detached piece of it; to be
admired, it must be seen in a tuft of some considerable size, which it
is much disposed to form when growing among rock-work, for which, like
many other small Alpine plants, it is well suited; thus elevated above
the surface of the ground, the various beauties of this humble race are
more distinctly seen, and their curious structure more readily
inspected.

This species is the more to be esteemed, as it flowers very early in the
spring, in March, and the beginning of April, and continues in blossom
about six weeks.

LINNAEUS originally confounded it with a similar plant, the
_Draba alpina_, a mistake since rectified in his _Mantissa Plant. p.
91._

[171]

IXIA CHINENSIS. CHINESE IXIA.

_Class and Order._

TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Cor._ 6-partita, campanulata, regularis. _Stigmata_ 3.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

IXIA _chinensis_ foliis ensiformibus; floribus remotis, panicula
dichotoma, floribus pedunculatis. _Linn. Sp. Pl. v. i. p. 52._
_Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. p. 62._

MORAEA _chinensis_ caule compresso, foliis ensiformibus, panicula
dichotoma, floribus pedunculatis. _Murr. Syst. Vegetab. p. 93._

[Illustration: No 171]

In that elaborate and inestimable work, the _Hortus Malabaricus_, we
have a good figure of the plant here exhibited, accompanied by a minute
description; the author informs us that it grows spontaneously in India,
attaining the height even of five or six feet, and affecting a sandy
soil; the natives consider it as an antidote to poisons in general, and
regard the bruised root as peculiarly efficacious in curing the bite of
the serpent, called Cobra de Copella.

We raised plants of it last year from seeds imparted to us by J.
IBBETTSON, Esq. of the Admiralty; this year, during the months of
August and September, many of them have flowered, and capsules are
forming which have every appearance of producing perfect seeds; the root
of this plant is yellow, and tuberous like that of the Iris, the leaves
also greatly resemble those of that tribe, it grows to the height of
about three feet, and produces a considerable number of flowers in
succession each of which is of short duration.

The root and radical leaves as represented on the plate are much smaller
than in plants which have been long established.

Our plants stood in pots in the open ground through the winter of 1790-1
without injury