2 ovules in each cell. H. occidentalis of auth. 



In wet sandy areas, meadows, swamps and marshes in s.e. Okla. {Waterfall) 

 and e. and s.-cen. Tex., Mar.-May or sporadically to July; from Ga. to Tex., n. 

 to Ky., Mo. and Ark. 



2. Hypoxis L. Yellow Star-grass 



Stemless small herbs with grasslike usually hairy linear or narrowly lanceolate 

 leaves and slender 1- to several-flowered peduncles from a cormlike short vertical 

 rhizome; perianth mostly pilose without, its tube completely coherent with the 

 ovary; perianth segments yellow to whitish within, usually green on the back, 

 connivent at least after anthesis, usually forming a beaklike crown to the fruit or 

 rarely deciduous; anthers versatile or rarely basifixed; capsule indehiscent or 

 longitudinally dehiscent; seeds globular to ellipsoid, with pebbled to muricate or 

 variously sculptured testa. 



More than 100 species, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. 



1. Seeds sharply muricate, the projections somewhat awl-shaped and acute 



1. H. hirsuta. 



1. Seeds reticulate, covered with low smooth rounded pebbling or blunt murica- 



tions (2) 



2(1). Leaves thin and flaccid, glabrous, narrowly linear-lanceolate, usually more 

 than 5 mm. wide at about the middle; peduncles mostly 2-flowered; 

 perianth segments 5-7 mm. long 2. H. leptocarpa. 



2. Leaves firm, linear, pilose, 1-4 mm. wide; peduncles usually 1 -flowered; 



perianth segments 7-12 mm. long 3. H. rigida. 



1. Hypoxis hirsuta (L.) Cov. Fig. 341. 



Corm subglobose to ellipsoid, 5-20 mm. thick, covered with membranaceous 

 pale or brown-tinged sheaths that do not become fibrinous; leaves linear, rather 

 firm, 1-6 dm. long, 1-8 mm. wide; peduncles filiform, stiffish or spreading, 4-35 

 cm. long, 2- to 7-flowered; pedicels elongate; ovary and capsule densely pilose; 

 perianth segments lanceolate to elliptic or narrowly ovate, 5-15 mm. long; capsule 

 ellipsoid, 2-6 mm. long; seeds 0.8-1.3 mm. in diameter, black, lustrous, the outer 

 coat closely covered with sharp murications. H. erecta L. 



In open woods, wet meadows, prairies and pastures in e. half of Okla. and 

 e. Tex., w. to Wise and Bastrop cos., Mar.-May; from s. N.H. to Man., s. to Fla. 

 and Tex. 



2. Hypoxis leptocarpa Engelm. Fig. 341. 



Corm ovoid-cylindric, 10-15 cm. thick; leaves very thin and flaccid, narrowly 

 linear-lanceolate, tapering below, acuminate and long-attenuate at apex, often 

 quite glabrous, 2-9 dm. long, about 12 mm. broad; peduncles very slender and 

 lax, mostly 1- to 3- (rarely 4-) flowered; perianth segments 5-7 mm. long, sub- 

 glabrous to dorsally pilose; mature capsules 4-10 mm. long, slightly pubescent to 

 glabrate; seeds black, with blunt murications. H. hirsuta var. leptocarpa (Engelm.) 

 Brackett. 



Wet woods, swamps and bottomlands, often along streams, in s.e. Tex., May- 

 Aug.; from N. C. to Fla. and Tex. 



3. Hypoxis rigida Chapm. Fig. 341. 



Corm subcylindric to ellipsoid, 6-15 mm. thick, covered with the stiff bristly 

 bases of the old sheaths or rarely with membranous slightly disintegrating leaf 

 bases; leaves rather rigid, linear, 1-4 dm. long, 1-4 mm. wide; peduncles glabrate, 

 to 3 dm. long, 1- or rarely more-flowered; ovary and capsule pilose; perianth seg- 

 ments 7-12 mm. long, oblong to lanceolate, acutish, densely pubescent without; 



667 



