310 



MOXOCOTYLEDONES. 



EPIGTNODS flowers: Amaryllidacese, Iridacese, Bromeliacere (in part), Dios- 

 coreaceae. 



Order 1. Colchicaceae. The flower (Fig. 304.4) is $ , regular, 

 hypogynous, trimerous in all five whorls (6 stamens) ; anthers 

 usually extrorse. Gynceceum with 3 free styles (A, D) ; fruit a 

 capsule ivith septicidal dehiscence (_Z) ; embryo very small (F). The 

 underground stem is generally a corm or rhizome, seldom a bulb. 



A. VERATRE^E. Veratrum,; perennial herbs, stem tall with 

 long interuodes and broad, folded leaves ; the flowers andro- 

 monoecious, with free, widely opening perianth-leaves (Fig. 304 A}, 

 and globular anthers; inflorescence a panicle. Zygadenus, 

 Melanthium, Schcenocaulon, Uvularia, Tri'cyrtis. 



B. TOFIELDIEJ;. Nartheciiim and Tojieldia have leaves alter- 

 nate (arranged in two rows), sword-like and borne in rosettes ; 

 racemes or spikes. Narthecium forms an exception to the order by 

 having a simple style and fruit with loculicidal dehiscence ; 



FIG. 304. Veratrum : A flower; B stamen ; C transverse section of ovary ; 7) gynoeceurn, 

 with one carpel bisected longitudinally, and the third removed ; E fruit after dehiscence ; 

 f longitudinal section of a seed. 



Tofieldia by the introrse anthers. In this they are related to the 

 Liliaceaa. Narthecium has poisonous properties, like many other 

 Colchicacete. 



C. COLCHICE.E. Colchicum (Autumn Crocus) ; perennial herbs, 

 with a long, funnel-shaped, gamophyllous perianth, and introrse 

 anthers. The flowers of C. autumnale spring up immediately 

 from the underground stem, which is in reality a corm formed of 

 one internode. Colchicum autumnale flowers iri autumn without leaves ; in 

 spring the radical foliage-leaves appear simultaneously with the fruit. The 

 flower is protogynous, and is pollinated hy insects (humble-bees, etc.) which 

 seek the honey secreted by the free part of the stamen a little way down the 

 tube. The length of the tube protects the fruit, and not, as in other cases, the 

 nectary. Bulbocodinm and Merendera have unguiculate perianth-leaves, free, 

 but closing together like a tube. 



175 species ; chiefly in North America and South Africa. Tofieldia is an 



