oe ee ee a eee ee ee, ee 
Tas. 5348, 
OPHIOPOGON spicatuws. 
Purple-flowered Snakesbeard. 
Nat. Ord. Opnitorpoconnz.—HEXANDRIA MonoGynia. 
Gen. Char. Flores hermaphroditi. Perigonium corollinum, liberum v. basi 
ovario adnatum, limbo sexpartito. Séamina 6, perigonii basi inserta ; Jilamenta 
brevissima v. elongata, filiformia v. inferne dilatata ; anthere oblonge, lineares v. 
sagittatee, basifixee, mucronate. Ovarium liberum v. cum perigonii basi coheerens, 
trilobum, triloculare. Ovuda in loculis 2, collateralia v. superposita, anatropa. 
Stylus trigono-pyramidatus ; stigma brevissime trifidum. Semina 4—6, ex ovario 
mox disrupto erumpentia, omnino nudata; ¢esta cerulea, subcarnosa.—Herbe 
in Asia australi et orientali indigene ; foliis lineari-ensiformibus, basi vaginanti- 
bus. Flores in racemo spicaformes fasciculati, scapum ancipitem v. angulatum 
terminantes ; pedicellis articulatis. 
OPHIOPOGON spicatus; scapo foliis subequali vel longiore, fasciculorum racemo 
laxiusculo elongato, pedicello apice articulato, bracteis brevibus, perigonio 
violaceo, foliolis conniventibus, filamentis elongatis, ovarii loculis 2-lobis, 
ovulis 2 collateralibus. 
OPHioPoGon spicatus. Gawl. in Bot. Reg. t. 593. Kunth, En. Plant. v. 5. 
p. 299, 
Convatiarta spicata. Thunb. Fl. Jap. p.141. Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 2. p. 161. 
Lrr1o0PE spicata. Loureiro, Cochin. p. 200. 
FiueeEa spicata. Schult. Syst. Veget. 
Botanists vary in opinion as to the Natural Order of this plant. 
Its first describer refers it to Asphodelee, apparently with the 
sanction of Mr. Brown. Endlicher places it at the end of his 
Smilacee, among a section of “ Genera Smilaceis affinia >? and 
in a subsection, which he calls Ophiopogonee (including besides 
Ophiopogon, Bulbospermum, Bl., and Peliosanthes), and between 
his Aspidistree and Herreriee. Dr. Lindley refers our genus 
to his eleventh section of Liliacee, corresponding with Ophio- 
pogonee of Endlicher, and lastly Kunth constitutes a separate 
Order for it, Ophiopogonee. Nor are all agreed about the limits 
NOVEMBER Ist, 1862, 
