Miscellaneous, 301 



those of a Bianthus, and who described them as borne within a ghi- 

 maceous involucre. From this same resemblance, G. Bauhin placed 

 the Aphyllanthes in his section Caryophyllus sylvestris, under the 

 name of Caryophyllus cceruleus monspeliensis. 



Tournefort estabhshed the genus Jphyllanthes, placing it in the 

 class of Liliacece, and considering the involucre as a scaly and nearly 

 tubular calyx ; he gave a plate containing an analysis of the flower 

 and even of the capsule. Linnaeus retained the genus Aphyllanthes, 

 and in the first editions of his * Genera Plantarum/ it is placed beside 

 the genus Juncus ; for Linnaeus regarded the Aphyllanthes as nearly 

 a rush, saying in the observations upon this plant, " Juncus esset si 

 corolla careret'* 



In the 'Genera Plantarum' of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, 

 Aphyllanthes is arranged in the first section of the order of Junci, 

 in which we also find the genera Eriocaulon, Restio, Xyrls, and 

 JuncuSf each of which has since been raised to the rank of a family. 



DeCandolle continued to regard the Aphyllanthes as a plant 

 belonging to the family JuncecB, although with him this family had 

 not the same limits as with Jussieu. This opinion has been followed 

 by several recent botanists, — as by Ventenat, Bartling, Reichenbach,^ 

 and others. 



Labillardiere having discovered the genus Borya in New Holland, 

 arranged it also amongst the JuncecBy as it is allied to Aphyllanthes ; 

 but Mr. Robert Brown, in his celebrated * Prodromus,' whilst re- 

 marking that the aspect of Borya is that of a rush, indicated the 

 differences existing between the testa and albumen of the seeds and 

 those of the JuncecB ; this led him to arrange Borya in the family 

 of the Asphodelece, which, with him, includes a great part of the 

 Asphodeli and Asparagi of Jussieu. 



Endlicher, in his * Genera Plantarum,' iplaced Aphyllanthes, Borya, 

 Johnsonia, Laxmannia, and a new genus which he calls Alania, at the 

 end of the Liliacece, considering them as genera allied to the Asphodels 

 (genera Asphodeleis affinia) ; this has been followed by Kunth and 

 Schnitzlein ; and the latter has formed for these plants a tribe of 

 LiliacecB which he calls Juncopsidece. Thus, three different opinions 

 now exist as to the family in which the Aphyllanthes should be 

 placed : according to one of these it is a rush ; according to another, 

 an Asphodel ; and the third approximates it to the Asphodels or the 

 Lilies, according to the extension given to the limits of the great 

 family LiliacefE. 



Few have, however, carefully studied the Aphyllanthes mons- 

 peliensis in the living state, at least to judge from the published 

 figures and descriptions, which are partially false. In the researches 

 upon the monocotyledonous plants, which I have followed for several 

 years, I have examined the Aphyllanthes, which presents a singular 

 structure, especially in the parts of the flower. The most remarkable 

 characters of the plant are the following : — 



1. A rhizome with branches in the form of leafless stems. 



2. Solitary flowers, or flowers united two or three together, borne 

 at the apex of the branches, and accompanied by scale-like bracts. 



