The Lesser Neottia is a native of the West Indies; is a very tender hot-house plant, but grows freely in rich earth; either in or out of the tan-bed; rises to the height of about three feet, and flowers in the month of March: is propagated by parting its roots; and although at present rare, was introduced to us before N. speciosa, in the year 1790, by Mr. John Fairbairn, gardener to the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries at Chelsea. Our drawing was taken at Lady De Clifford’s collection at Paddington. [Illustration] PLATE CCCLXXVII. ALLIUM CHAMÆ-MOLY. _The Dwarf Moly._ CLASS VI. ORDER I. _HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Six Chives. One Pointal. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. COROLLA 6-partita, patens. Spatha multiflora. Umbella congesta. Capsula supera. COROLLA 6-parted, expanding. Sheath many-flowered. Umbel crowded. Capsule above. SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C. ALLIUM, scapo nudo subnullo, capsulis cernuis, foliis planis ciliatis. ALLIUM, with a naked very short stalk, drooping capsules, and flat ciliated leaves. ALLIUM Chamæ-Moly. _Willd. Sp. Pl. 2. 83._--_Cavan. Ic. 3. p. 4. t. 207. f. 1.?_ DESCRIPTIO. _Radix_ bulbus parvulus. _Folia_ circiter 4, cruciatim disticha, expansa, linearia, subulata, basin versus parum canaliculata, et subcarinata; hirta, præcipue ad margines, unde ciliata. _Flores_ umbellati subsessiles. _Scapus_ brevissimus, reconditus, nudus. _Spatha_ monophylla 3-8-flora, membranacea, 3-cuspidata. _Pedunculi_ perbreves, teretes, superne incrassati, post florescentiam cernui. _Petala_ 6, lanceolato-linearia, obtusa, alba, costâ utrinque virescente. _Filamenta_ 6, tenuissima, alba, petalis duplo breviora. _Antheræ_ luteæ. _Germen_ superum, turbinatum, 6-sulcatum superne umbilicatum. _Stylus_ albus longitudine filamentorum, sed robustior, apice furcatus. _Stigmata_ fere nulla. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. The sheath. 2. A flower spread open, magnified. 3. The seed-bud and pointal. 4. The same magnified. Although now an old inhabitant of the British gardens, Allium Chamæ-Moly has ever been considered as a rare and interesting one; and is at present extremely scarce. It has several times been entirely lost to us, and again introduced from the south of Europe; where it occurs spontaneously. In the Hortus Kewensis of Mr. Aiton, it is marked as a hardy species: perhaps inadvertently: because we never knew it survive a single winter in the open ground near London: notwithstanding our having repeatedly tried it, in situations by no means unfavourable: hence, possibly, its present rarity.