HYPOXIS ERECTA. STAR-GRASS. Sj 



/AH the members of the genus Hypoxis have yellow flowers, and 

 there are numerous representatives in the great home of the 

 genus in Southern Africa, while there are probably but two 

 good species in the United States. The relation of our plant 

 with so many others in that distant part of the world is an 

 interesting fact for those who may be engaged in the study of 

 botanical geography. 



We have seen that modern botanists have separated the genus 

 Hypoxis from its original relations in the order Liliacccr. But 

 some investigators have gone even further than this, and have 

 thought it necessary to place the genus in a separate order, of 

 which they have made it the type. While most of our American 

 botanists place it in the order of Amaryllidacco', Dr. Lindley, in 

 his " Vegetable Kingdom," classes it as Hypoxidacar ; but Dr 

 Lindley himself notes that there is little, beyond the general 

 habit of the plants, to distinguish this order from the order of 

 Ainaryllidacecc, this little being that the radicle or growing 

 point in the seeds of Hypoxidacece is near the hilum, that is to 

 say, near the place where the seed is connected with its parent ; 

 while in the Amaryllidacccs, as he views them, the radicle is on 

 the opjaosite side. 



The reader has noted that the tapering base of the capsule 

 suggested the name of the genus, but the opportunitv of exam- 

 ining this capsule seems to be rather rare. The writer of this 

 never saw a perfect one till August, 1S78, and the specimen 

 then found is given in our j^late (Fig. 2). It is very small, and 

 wholly enveloped by the persistent sepals, but on being opened 

 it will be found to contain the little black seeds. Dr. Darling- 

 ton seems to have had a similar experience to that of the writer 

 of this, without his final good fortune, for in his " Flora Ces- 

 trica," or Flora of Chester County, Pennsylvania, he says : " I 

 think this plant rarely perfects its fruit. Common as it is, and 

 familiar as I have been with it for half a century, I have never 

 observed a full-grown capsule." It niay be that the plant, hav- 

 ing perhaps wandered a long way from its original central home. 



