LILJACEiE. 581 



18. UNCINIA, Pers. 



Character of Carex, but with an awn-like pedicel between the perigynium and the pistil. 

 — Spikes simple, androgynous : ? flowers inferior ; style 3-fld. 



107- XJ. jamaicensis, Pers. Stem glabrous, about as long as the csespitose, flat 

 leaves ; spike long-cylindrical, tapering at both ends ; glumes elliptical, bluntish ; peri- 

 gynium spathulate-lanceolate, flat-convex, puberulous and ciliate above, half as long as the 

 glabrous, hamate, long-exserted awn. — Carex hamata, Sw. — 1'-2' high ; spike 3"-5" long, 

 pale-green, or brown-variegated. — Hab. Jamaica !, Pd., in high mountains ; [Mexico, Pa- 

 nama !, Venezuela !, Ecuador !]. 



CXXXVII. JUNCE.E. 



Flowers apetalous. Calyx glumaceous : divisions 6. Stamens 6-3, perigynous. Ovary 

 compound, 3-1-celled : stigmas 3, with collecting hairs. Capsule many— 3-seeded. Embryo 

 minute, in the summit of amylaceous albumen. — Habit of grasses, but flowers cymose. 



1. JUNCUS, Z. 



Calyx deeply 6-partite, 2-seriate. Capsule half-3-celled or 3-celled, loculicide, many- 

 seeded. — Flower 2-bracteolate. 



1. J. tenuis, W. Perennial ; stem slender, filiform, leafy at the base ; leaves inarticulate, 

 channelled, narrow ; cyme terminal, loose, supported by 2 (-1) iuvolucral leaves ; flowers pale, 

 single, distant, subsessile, mostly one-sided along its branches ; sepals lanceolate, sharply 

 acuminate, exceeding the ovoid, or ovoid-oblong, subtruncate capsule ; stamens 6. — In our 

 form (J. tenuis, var. unicornis, E. Mey., /. cognatus, Kth., J. parviflorus, Poir. ?) the stem 

 is 1^' high, the leaves are almost as long, filiform, and the involucral leaves, one of which is 

 usually suppressed, scarcely longer than the cyme. — Hab. Jamaica !, Wils. ; [United States ! 

 to Uruguay ; Western Europe!] 



CXXXVIII. LILIACE^]. 



Perigone coloured, of 6 divisions. Stamens 6. Ovary compound. Capmle 3 (-1) -celled. 

 Embryo axile in fleshy albumen. — Leaves mostly parallel-nerved, often rosulate. 



An acrid principle is general, which has been found to contain sulphur in the Garlick, 

 Onion, and allied cultivated species of Allium. From the milky sap of Aloe vulgaris (culti- 

 vated for that purpose in the West Indies) the drastic medicine, known as Aloes, is obtained. 

 Agave and Fourcroya afford valuable fibre. A spirit is obtained from the fermented juice of 

 Agave. 



Tbibe I. ASPHODELEJ?.— Ovary superior. 

 1. ALLIUM, L. 



Perigone 6-partite, persistent. Stamens perigynous, often dilated at the base : anthers 

 introrse. Style simple. Capsule loculicide : seeds black. — Scape usually bulbous ; umbels 

 terminal^ supported by a spathe. 



Sect. 1. Nothoscoudum, Kth. — Style terminal. Ovary -cells sever al-ovulate. 



1. A. striatum, Jacq. Leaves narrowly linear, rosulate at the base of the subterete 

 scape ; umbel loose, much exceeding the spathe ; segments of the whitish perigone lanceo- 

 late-oblong, bluntish, exceeding the simple stamens ; ovary shorter than the style ■. cells 4- 

 8-ovulate. — Redout. Lit. 1. t. 50. Bot. Repos. 2. t. 107. — Nothoscordum, Kth. N. stria- 

 tellum, Kth. N. fragrans 0, Kth. A. gracile, Andr.— -Scape 8"-2' hi-h ; leaves \'"-V" 

 broad ; perigone 4"'-3'" long. — Hab. Jamaica !, JJarlw., in the mountains of Port Royal ; 

 Barbadocs; [United States ! to Chile!]. 



