964 CLVHI. PHILYDRACEA. (J. D. Hooker.) [ Philydrum. 
A tall stout herb, 2-3 ft., more or less woolly; stem simple or nearly so. bane 
1-2 ft., distichous and equitant at the base, ensiform, upper passing into lanceola » 
bracts. Spike 1-2 ft., simple or branched, woolly ; bracts 1-2.-fld. ; elf eee 
yellow, à in. diam. Sepals hairy, many-nerved, margins subinvolute in bud. Bn 
as long as the sepals, filament flattened, acute; anther transverse; stamin neg r 
connate with the filament. Ovary 1-celled, placentas broadly 2-lobed, ovu p Ze 7 
many ; stigma broad, 3-angled. Capsule oblong. Seeds narrowly oblong, stri 
and tuberculate, chalaza black, funicle short pale. 
OrpveR CLIX. XYRIDEZ. 
Tufted rigid herbs. Leaves radical, linear or subulate. Scape simple, 
naked. Flowers sessile in the rigid dark brown imbricating Wach gë 
terminal head or spike, bisexual. Bracteoles (sepals?) 3, deci dorsal 
scarious, embracing the claws of the petals, 2 lateral, 1 broader ilow 
often hooded. Petals 3, clawed, claw erect spreading, limb golden e T 
marcescent. Stamens 3, inserted at the bases of the petals, inclu ate 
anthers sagittate; staminodes 3, alternating with the inner ett 
filiform, bearded or antheriferous, sometimes 0. Ovary free, Wee at te 
3-celled ; placentas 3, many-ovuled, basal and confluent or parieta de 
trifid, stigmas capitate or dilated; ovules anatropous. Capsule eg 
dally 5-valved, or with the top circumsciss. Seeds numerous, T Pis) 
albumen flowery, embryo minute.—Genera 2, species about 50, one (Xy 
found in all warm regions ; the other American. 
XYRIS; Linn. 
-— 
Characters of the Order. 
* Leaves distinctly flat. 
. 1 d, 
l. X. indica, Linn. Sp. Pl. 62; robust, leaves loriform F in. or 
scape stout deeply grooved, spike ovoid or globose, bracts or M ari, in 
cuneately obovate. Vahl Enum. ii. 204; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i 179 oe B, C; 
Wall. Pl. As. Rar. iti, 30; Kunth Enum. iv. 20; Wall. Cat, 6086 B, Gj 
Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 259; Mig. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 528; Steud. Syn 
Cyp. 288,—Rheede Hort. Mal. ix. t. 7. Huts 
BENGAL, in low marshes, at the foot of the SIKKIM, Assam and peris pel - 
southward to MALACCA and from the South Concan (in salt marshes) to UF 
Disrris. Malay Islands. ike )-À in 
Leaves 1-2 ft., spongy, obtuse. Scape as long, acutely angled. Span long, 
bracts } in. broad, few or many, dark red brown, shining, broader erose. 
margins scarious ; bracteoles linear-spathulate, smooth. Petals orbicular, 
" nd 
2. X. robusta, Mart. in Wall. Pl. As. Rar, ii. 30; leaves scape 5, 
spike of X. indica, but bracts broadly ovate-oblong longer SOT. 
all. Cat. 6087. Kunth Enum. iv. 19; Steud. Syn. Pl. Cyp. 987. 
SinHET; Wallich. also 
Apparently distinct from X. indica in the form of the bracts ; probably 
in other characters that are not available in the few dried specime 
disposal. 
. a. A in. 
3. X. anceps, Lamk. Ill. i. 132; leaves narrowly poen do ed 
broad rigid twisted much shorter than the flattened or 2-edged 8T 
