_Cor._ 6-petala inaequalis, _Petalis_ alternis geniculato-patentibus, _Stigmata_ petaliformia; cucullato-bilabiata. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ IRIS _pavonia_ imberbis folio lineari glabro, scapo subunifloro. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. p. 92._ [Illustration: No 168] We have our doubts whether the plant here figured be the _pavonia_ of the _Systema Vegetabilium_, as it does not accord so well with the description there given, as we could wish; as such however it has been regarded by some here, and it must be allowed to answer extremely well to the name. It is a small delicate Iris, about a foot and a half high, with very narrow leaves, bearing on the top of the stalk one or at most two flowers, three of the petals are large and white, with a brilliant blue spot at the base of each, edged on the outer side with deep purple; the delicacy of the flower, and the eye-like spot at the base of three of the petals, render at one of the most striking plants of the genus. The figure here given was drawn from a plant which flowered with Messrs. GRIMWOOD and Co. last June, who received it from Holland, and treat it in the same way as their Cape bulbs, of which country it is said to be a native. It is not mentioned either in Mr. MILLER'S _Gardener's Dictionary_, or the _Hortus Kewensis_. [169] IXORA COCCINEA. SCARLET IXORA. _Class and Order._ TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. _Generic Character._ _Cor._ 1-petala, infundibuliformis, longa, supera, _Stamina_ supra faucem. _Bacca_ 4-sperma. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ IXORA _coccinea_ foliis ovalibus semiamplexicaulibus, floribus fasciculatis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr._ _Ait. Hort. Kew. p. 148._ JASMINUM indicum, lauri folio, inodorum umbellatum, floribus coccineis. _Pluk. alm. 196. t. 59. s. 2._ CERASUS zeylanica humilis sylvestris, floribus holosericeis intense rubris umbellatim congestis, fructibus nigris. _Mus. Zeyl. p. 15._ FLAMMA SYLVARUM _Rumph. Amb. 4. p. 105. t. 46._ [Illustration: No 169] It will appear strange, we presume, to most of our readers, when they are informed, that the _Ixora coccinea_, a plant at present in few hands, and which a short time since was sold in some of our nurseries for five guineas, should have been known in this country a hundred years ago; and yet Mr. AITON, who has so laudably exerted himself, in ascertaining the precise period, when most of the exotics cultivated in the royal garden at Kew first made their appearance in Great-Britain, informs us on very respectable authority, that this plant was introduced by Mr. BENTICK in 1690.