492 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



944. Ord. BromcliacCiC (Pine-Apple Family) consists of American 

 and cliiefly troi^ical jjlants ; with rigid and dry channelled leaves, 

 often with a scurfy surface, a mostly adnate perianth of three sepals 

 and tliree petals, and six or more stamens ; the seeds with mealy 

 albumen. — Fx. Ananassa, the Pine-Apple ; the fine fruit of which 

 is formed by the consolidation of the imperfect flowers, bracts, and 

 receptacle into a succulent mass. Tillandsia, the Black IMoss or 

 Long Moss (which, like most Bromelias, grows on the trunks and 

 bi'anches of trees in the warmer and humid parts of America), has 

 the ovary free from the pei'ianth. 



945. Ord. lliCmodoracea; {Bhodicort Family) is composed of peren- 

 nial herbs, with fibrous roots, equitant or ensiform leaves ; which, 

 with the stems and flowers, are commonly densely clothed with 

 woolly hairs or scurf. Perianth with the tube either nearly free 

 from, or commonly adherent to, the three-celled ovary ; the limb 

 six-cleft, regular. Stamens six, or only three, with introrse anthers. 

 Style single, the stigma standing over the dissepiments of the ovary. 

 Embryo in cartilaginous albumen. — Ex. Lachnanthes (Red-Root), 

 Lophiola. — Some have a red juice. The roots are astringent and 

 tonic, especially in Aletris. 



946. Ord. Dioscoreacea; ( Yam Family) consists of a few twining 

 plants, with large tuberous roots or knotted rootstocks ; distinguished 

 among Endogens by their ribbed and netted-veined leaves, with dis- 

 tinct petioles, and by their inconspicuous dioecious flowers, with the 

 perianth in the pistillate flowers adherent to the ovary ; the limb 

 six-cleft in two series. Stamens six. Ovary three-celled, witli only 

 one or two ovules in each cell : styles nearly distinct. Fruit often 

 a three-winged capsule. Albumen cartilaginous. — Ex. Dioscorea. 

 The tubers of one or or more species, filled Avith starch and mucilage 

 (but more or less acrid until cooked), are Tarns, an important article 

 of food in tropical countries. 



947. Ol'd. Smilacea! {Smilax Family) is also remarkable among 

 Endogens for netted-veined leaves. It consists both of herbs and of 

 shrubby plants climbing by tendrils ; the perianth is free from the 

 ovary ; the mostly three styles or sessile stigmas are entirely dis- 

 tinct ; the antliers are introrse ; and the fruit is a berry. Embryo 

 minute, in hard albumen. — In the True Smilax Family, the flowers 

 are dioecious and axillary ; the six divisions of the perianth are 

 alike ; the anthers are one-celled, and the few seeds are orthotropous 

 and pendulous. They are mostly shrubby and alternate-leaved 



