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Lapeyrousia (Named in honour of J F G de la)

(named in honour of J. F. G. de la Peyrouse, 1741-1788, the French circumnavigator). SYNS. Meristostigma, Ovieda, and Peyrousia. ORD. Irideae. A genus comprising about eighteen species of half-hardy bulbous plants, natives of Southern and tropical Asia, allied to Anomatheca, but with the spreading lobes more equal, and stigmas more deeply cleft. Flowers on terminal elongated spikes. Leaves sheathing. For culture, &c., see Anomatheca (which genus is included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Lapeyrousia). L. anceps (two-edged). fl., perianth tube bluish-purple, long, slender; limb hypocrateriform; segments spathulately lanceolate. September. l. broadly ensiform, many-nerved, short and blunt; edges more or less curled, and sometimes toothed, rather glaucous, light green; upper ones sheathing the stem. Stem 9in. high, branched, flat. Cape of Good Hope, 1824. (S. B. F. G. 143.) L. corymbosa (corymbose). fl. bright blue, with a white and dark blue angled band encircling the central portion of the perianth; the angles are acute, and extend about half the length of the segments; corymbs several-flowered, clustered, on loose, slender stems. May. l. narrow, tapering. h. 6in. to 12in. Cape of Good Hope, 1791. (B. M. 595.) L. fissifolia (cleft-leaved). fl. pink or rose, with very narrow tubes 2in. or more in length, fragrant, produced from the axils of the leaves, chiefly near the apex of the stem. August. l. tapering, becoming small towards the upper part of the stem. h. 6in. Cape of Good Hope, 1809. A very rare species. (B. M. 1246.)