Tas. 8342. 
ERONEMA Moort. 
New Caledonia. 
LIniAckAE. Tribe ASPHODELEAE. 
XERONEMA, Brongn. et Gris; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p, 781. 
Xeronema Moorii, Brongn. et Gris in Bull, Soc. Bot. France, vol. xi. (1864), 
p. 316, in Choix Pl. Nouv. Caled. t. 1, et in Nouv, Arch. Mus. Par. vol. iv. 
p. 2, t. 1 (1868); species unica. 
Herba; radice fibrosa, caule brevissimo. Folia disticha, vaginantia, ensi- 
formia, lateraliter compressa, 40 cm. longa, 3 em. lata, glabra, minute 
punctata. Scapus quam folia inferiora paullo longior; racemus 15 em. 
longus, abrupte curvatus, rhachi horizontali; bracteae elongatae, vagi- 
nantes; flores secnndi, erecti, rubro-purpurei; bracteolae scariosae, 
oblongae, breviter mucronatae, 1 em. longae, 4 mm. latae; pedicelli 6 mm. 
longi. Perianthii segmenta 6, oblongo-lanceolata, apice anguste cucullata, 
persistentia, 15 mm. longa, 3 mm. lata, minute maculata. Stamina quam 
perianthium duplo longiora; filamenta rubro-purpurea, subulata; antherae 
oblongae, introrsae. Ovarium oblongum, trilobatum; ovula in quoque 
loculo 8-10; stylus subulatus, post anthesin spiraliter tortus; stigma 
parvum, obscure trilobum.—X. Moorei, Audré in Ill. Hort. 1877, p. 184, 
pl. 297; Ender in Gartenfl. 1878, p. 349; Reuthe in Gartenfl. 1889, p. 408, 
fig. 69. Scleronema Moorii, Brongn. et Gris in Ann. Sci. Nat. 5™ sér. 
vol. ii. p. 166.—C. H. Wriaurt. 
The rather striking plant here described is a native of 
the mountains of New Caledonia, where it grows on voleanie 
rocks at elevations of from 3-5,000 feet above sea-level. It 
was originally discovered by Mr. C. Moore, Director of the 
Sydney Botanic Garden, and was introduced to European 
horticulture by Mr. J. Linden in 1875, The specimen from 
which our figure has been prepared was purchased for the 
Kew Collection from Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons in 1896, 
The distichous compressed leaves, sheathing at the base, 
impart to the species a facies recalling that characteristic of 
many of the Jridaceae; the flowers, however, are of a 
distinctly liliaceous type,and the genus Xeronema, to which 
our plant belongs, together with the Australasian genus 
Herpolirion, Hook. f., which has a quite different habit, 
constitutes the sub-tribe Xeroneminae of the Asphodeleae in 
the Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien of Engler & Prantl. 
In cultivation it calls for the treatment most suitable for 
Novemser, 1910. 
