This plant, which seems destined to become a favorite in this country, where it is now a comparative novelty, belongs to the iridaceae family ; of the genus there is only a single species. It is also classed as a tritonia ; is handsome and hardy, or nearly so, and in growth resembles the gladiolus. The color of the flower is a brilliant orange scarlet, suffused with a gold-like dust, and the plant grows about two feet high and is covered with bloom from July to October. It is a bulbous perennial, and thrives best in a light, rich, sandy soil. It is often grown in pots for room decoration and in the greenhouse; but, with proper care, it will thrive in the open ground, at least in the summer in the northern states and all the year round in those farther south. The bulbs may be planted out about the middle of April, and the plants can be treated exactly like gladioli during the summer. As soon as the stems show signs of decay, the bulbs should be taken up - in the north usually in November or a trifle earlier - and stored in dry sand, out of reach of frost, until the following spring; but they must not be kept so dry that they will shrivel. The plants are propagated by offsets or seeds.

The latter should be sown in pans in a cold house as soon as possible after maturity, and where the species does well the corms increase quite rapidly. A few specimens were exhibited at the late Paris Exposition and were much admired, but, so far as we know, no display of them has yet been made at any of the great flower shows in America. We illustrate on it page 341.