Amongst the plants, of this natural order, from the Cape of Good Hope, we find such an intermixture of character, in the different parts of fructification; that, if some latitude is not taken in referring them to some of the old genera, almost every fresh subject, we discover, would require a new one. This plant, although we have placed it to Hyacinthus, with those that have gone before us, has juster claims to Drimia, Polyanthes or Scilla; for it is wanting in the essential characters of Hyacinthus, being unfurnished with the honied pores, and having the chives inserted into the tube of the blossom, three of which are, alternately, double the length of the others. To Drimia, a new genus of Professor Jacquin, and a mutilation of Hyacinthus, it is most allied; but, we have not thought fit to alter its known station, as, without doubt, the multiplication of genera, or altering the place of known plants, adds but to the difficulties of a most intricate, though pleasing study. It is a hardy green-house bulb; delights in a mixture of peat earth and sandy loam; increases by offsets, and flowers in October or November. Our figure was made from a plant in the Nursery of Mr. Williams of Turnham Green, who first imported it in 1800. It is said, by Koenig, to grow in pasture lands near the Cape town, and was first noticed there by him. [Illustration] PLATE CCCXLVI. CASUARINA STRICTA. _Upright Casuarina._ CLASS XXI. ORDER I. _MONOECIA MONANDRIA._ Chives and Pointal separate. One Chive. GENERIC CHARACTER. * _Masculi flores._ CALYX. Amentum filiforme, imbricatum, squamis minutis, unifloris. COROLLA. Squamulæ bipartitæ, ovatæ, minutæ. STAMINA. Filamentum unicum, capillare, squama amenti longius. Anthera didyma. * _Feminei flores in eadem arbore._ CALYX. Amentum ovato-cylindricum; squamis ovatis, acutis, carinatis, ciliatis. COROLLA nulla. PISTILLUM. Germen minutum. Stylus filiformis, longus, exsertus, bifidus. Stigmata duo. PERICARPIUM. Strobilus squamis bivalvibus, perpendiculariter dehiscentibus. SEMINA solitaria, conica, margine membranacea. * _Male flowers._ EMPALEMENT. Catkin thread-shape, tiled with small one-flowered scales. BLOSSOM. Scales two-parted, ovate, minute. CHIVES. Thread one, hair-like, longer than the scale of the catkin. Tip double. * _Female flowers on the same plant._ EMPALEMENT. Catkin ovate-cylindric, with egg-shaped, acute, keeled, tiled scales. BLOSSOM none. POINTAL. Seed-bud minute. Shaft thread-shaped, long, without, two-cleft. Summits two. SEED VESSEL. Cone with two-valved scales, splitting perpendicularly. SEEDS solitary, conical, with a skinny edge. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. Casuarina dioica ramulellis erectis; strobilorum squamis inermibus; vaginis masculis multi-fidis, glabris. Casuarina with chives and pointals distinct, and upright branchlets; scales of the cones naked, male sheaths many-parted, smooth. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.