Trifurcia
(from trees, three, and furca, a fork; alluding to the three-forked style). The correct name, according to Bentham and Hooker, is Alophia. SYN. Herbertia. ORD. Irideae. A small genus (three or four species) of pretty, American, stove, greenhouse, or hardy, bulbous plants. Flowers long-pedicellate; perianth tube none; segments free, the three outer ones shortly unguiculate, spreading, obovate or broadly oblong, the three inner ones much smaller, acute, erect or scarcely spreading; filaments connate in a cylindrical tube; spathes narrow. Leaves few. Bulb tunicated. Only two species call for description here. They thrive in a mixture of equal parts loam, peat, and sand. With protection in winter, the plants will succeed in the open border. Propagation may be effected by offsets, or by seeds. T. caerulea (blue). fl., outer perianth segments having a white claw, dotted with blue, the blade blue, with a deeper-coloured, triangular mark at base; inner segments blue, deeper-coloured in the middle; anthers and stigma short; peduncle shorter than the bracts. April. Texas, 1842. Half-hardy. SYN. Herbertia caerulea (B. M. 3862, figs. 3, d, e, f).
T. pulchella (pretty). fl., limb of the outer perianth segments lilac, undulated, the claw pale-yellowish or whitish, dotted with purple; inner segments deeper-coloured in the middle; anthers subulate, exceeding the stigma. July. l. 5in. or more long. Buenos Ayres, 1827. Greenhouse. SYN. Herbertia pulchella (B. M. 3862, figs. 1, 2; L. B. C. 1547; S. B. F. G. 222).