) 



Mn. J. G. BAKEU'S STSTEMA lUIDACEARUM. 63 



materially smaller scale as regards synonyms, because, except 

 ill the case of figures, I have only cited the original authority 

 for each name, and have omitted all reference to pre-Linnean 



books. 



Without at all attempting to trace in detail the range of cha- 

 racter which the different organs present, it will make matters 

 more clear if I say a few preliminary words under each as to the 

 characters for tribes and genera which they furnish. 



Soof stock and Soot, — In respect of rootstock, just as in Liliacese, 

 the order falls into two unequal halves — a bulbous, and a non- 

 bulbous series : there are 48 genera of the former, 17 of the 

 latter. As a general rule, the non-bulbous differ tangibly from 

 the bulbous genera in floral characters ; but this is not invariably 

 the case. For instance, the bulbous Geissorhiza answers per- 

 fectly to the non-bulbous Scliizostylis, the bulbous Xiphion to the 

 non-bulbous Iris. In each series we have a wide range of varia- 

 tion in root-character, so that in fact we get w^ithin the bounds of 

 the order nearly every type of Monocotyledonous root and root- 

 stock represented. In many species of Sisyrincliium we see a 

 dense tuft of slender adventitious root-fibres without any root- 

 stock, as in the ordinary grass type. In SisyrincJiium graminifo- 

 Hum ^vA jpachyrhizum these fibres become fleshy and cylindrical. 

 The short-creeping, thick, firm rhizome of the ordinary Irises is 

 familiar to every one. In X arenaria this becomes a slender 

 wide-creeping rhizome similar to that of Carex arenaria. The 

 typical tunicated bulb is very common. In Crocus and Morcea 

 oorms with tunics of various texture are abundantly represented. 

 In Ferraria we have a large irregularly shaped tuber like tliat of 

 Eriospermum. The character of the bulb- or corm-tunics some- 

 times runs through a genus w^ith great uniformity, and sometimes, 

 as in CrocuSy varies greatly in closely allied species, and furnishes 

 one of the best specific characters. Nearly all the non-bulbous 

 Irids are perennials ; but we have an instance of an annual 

 fibrous-rooted species in SisyrincJiium micranthum, which is one 

 of the few plants of the order which have become naturalized 

 far away from their original home. 



Stem.—ThTee small Cape genera (Witsenia and its neighbours) 

 are decided shrubs with acutely-angled stems, densely clothed 

 up to the inflorescence with distichous, amplexicaul, linear leaves. 

 All the other genera are herbaceous ; Crocus, Galaxiay and Sy- 



o2 



