a 
= =i, ‘~~, 
“A Tas. 5955. 
BULBINE Macken. 
Native of Natal. 
Nat. Ord. Lit1acrz.—Tribe, AsPHODELEA, 
Genus, Butsine, Linn. ; (Harv. Gen. Cape Plants, p. 400). 
Busine Mackenii ; radicibus et collo fibris brunneis intertextis dense vestitis, 
foliis late ovato-oblongis obtusis v. subacutis patentibus glabris plani- 
usculis enerviis, scapis gracilibus glaucis, bracteis minutis, racemis 
multi-laxifloris, pedicellis pollicaribus patentibus, floribus } poll. diam., 
sepalis petalisque fere e basi patentibus subequalibus lineari-oblongis 
obtusis aureis, filamentis perianthio paulo brevioribus gracilibus nudis, 
antheris parvis. 
This pretty plant does not accord with any genus as at 
present described, but cannot I think be excluded from 
Bulbine, alarge genus of South African plants, from which ‘its 
beardless stamens alone distinguish it. The only alternative is 
to place it in Bulbinella, from which it differs in the numerous 
(not twin) ovules, and filaments all equal in length; or in 
my genus Chrysobactron (Tab. Nost., 4062),which has also twin 
ovules, and which differs from Bu/éine in no important par- 
ticular. Upon the whole I am disposed to think that the 
best plan would be to retain the Linnean genus Anthericum, 
which he substituted for Bulbine, and to include in it species 
with glabrous and bearded filaments ; subdividing it primarily 
into those with twin ovules in each cell (Bulbine including 
Chrysobactron), and species with several ovules in each cell, 
which is again divisible into those with bearded and those with 
beardless filaments. Endlicher (Gen. Pl., 148) has indeed 
included Bulbine under Anthericum, but his character of the 
latter genus excludes the 2-ovuled spevies, and attributes to 
it a declinate style. 
Bulbine Mackenii was transmitted from Natal by Mr. 
McKen, the energetic superintendent of the D’Urban Botanic 
MARCH Ist, 1872. 
