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AtfTHElUCEJE AND ERIOSPERMEJE. 257 



variously bearded, and in Bulbine semibarbata three of them are 

 bearded and three naked. Three of the stamens are entirely 

 aborted in Anemarrhena and Thysanella. In Echeandia and 

 Hodgsoniola, the anthers are syngenesious ; and in the latter genus 

 three of them are reduced to mere rudiments. In Asphodeline 



and Thysanotus proper the three outer stamens are materially 

 different from the three inner in shape and size. Usually the 

 anther is versatile with longitudinal dehiscence; but it is basifixed 

 in Dichopogon, Eccremis, and Thysanotus, and dehisces by terminal 

 pores in Thysanotus. In Dichopogon and Arthropodium the cell* 

 are produced iuto curious tails. 



Pistil. — In these tribes, as in fact in the whole order Liliacea?, 

 there is comparatively little variation in the gynfecium. The 

 carpels of the ovary are always three and the placentation axile. 

 Sometimes the ovules are two, ascending and collateral, sometimes 

 more numerous and superposed ; but in Anthericum and Ccesia, 

 as in Scilla, both these types occur in a series of species which 

 in habit and other points of structure entirely coincide. The 

 fruit is always capsular ; and in the great majority of the genera 

 its dehiscence is loculicidal. In Ccesia and Tricoryne it de- 

 hisces very late or not at all ; and in the latter we have peculiar one- 

 seeded turbinate cocci, of which often only one out of the three is 

 developed. The style is always simple, and often, although the 

 perianth is regular, shows a decided tendency to become declinate ; 

 and the stigma is capitate. The seeds are usually few in number 

 and turgid; but in Chlorophytum, Metanarthecium and one section of 

 Ccesia they are discoid, as in Urginea, Drimia and the Lilies and 

 Tulips. JHfarthecium differs from all the other Anthericese by its 

 very numerous minute seeds tailed at both ends, like those of a 

 rush. The testa is usually thin and either brown or black, some- 

 times opaque and sometimes lucent. In Eriospermum it is coated 

 with a dense mass of persistent hairs ; and in Thysanotus there is 

 a small cupular basal arillus. 



Geography. — The number of species in the two tribes is 261 ; of 

 these upwards of 80 belong to Anthericum as here defined. The 

 next largest genus is Chlorophytum, with 35 species. Then follow 

 Bulbine, 22, Eriospermum, 20, Eremurus, 18, Thysanotus, 16, 

 Asphodeline, 14, Ccesia, 13. Anthericere contains 13 monotypic 

 genera. The tribe is the most cosmopolitan of all the tribes of 

 Liliaceae ; and Anthericum, though none of the species has a very 

 wide area, is the most wide-spread genus of the order. America 



