2oo6 A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



verntim, which is a native of Spain. It is often cultivated in 

 gardens on account of its purple flowers which are produced in 

 February. 

 4. Iphigenieae. Rootstock a bulb or a corm. Stem leafy, leaves narrow 

 but broader around the inflorescence and then coloured. Flowers 

 bracteate. Perianth segments free. Stamens six. Ovary trilocular 

 with numerous ovules. Fruit a loculicidal or septicidal capsule. 

 Seeds sub-globose or angular. Ornithoglossum and Iphigenia. 

 These and three other genera are all restricted to South Africa. 



From this summary of the tribes included in the family it will be seen 

 that more emphasis is placed on the character of the rootstock than has 

 been customary in previous systems. Whether too much importance has 

 been attached to this organ, only time and a more critical study of the 

 species will show, but it is at least refreshing to find more attention is being 

 directed to the structure of the plant as a whole rather than to the floral 

 structure or to those portions normally preserved in a herbarium sheet. 

 It is undoubtedly a fact that in the past systematic Botany has been studied 

 too much in the herbarium and too little in the field. Hutchinson by his 

 field experience in South Africa, a land rich in Liliaceous genera, is well 

 qualified to appreciate the true appearance and growth of the plants he is 

 dealing with, and his conclusions, though revolutionary, cannot be lightly 

 rejected. ^ 



ALSTROEMERIALES 



The Alstroemeriales are Monocotyledons in which the rootstock is a 

 rhizome with fibrous or tuberous roots. The flowers are showy and are 

 borne in a terminal cluster or raceme. The leaves are alternate, linear or 

 ovate. The perianth consists of six free or partly connate segments, which 

 may all be similar or one may be somewhat dissimilar. There are six stamens 

 which are free or partly connate. The ovary is usually inferior but some- 

 times superior; trilocular with axile placentation, or unilocular with parietal 

 placentation. The fruit is either a capsule or a berry and the seed is 

 endospermic. 



The order is a small one restricted mainly to the southern hemisphere 

 and, according to Hutchinson, comprises three families, Alstroemeriaceae, 

 Petermanniaceae and Philesiaceae. In comparison with other methods of 

 classification the order as here treated contains families made up partly 

 from the old Amaryllidaceae, e.g., Alstroemeriaceae, and from the old 

 Liliaceae, e.g., Philesiaceae. We shall not consider any of the families in 

 detail, but will refer briefly to the first and last. The Petermanniaceae 

 contain a single genus with only one species from New South Wales. 



The Alstroemeriaceae are characterized by having an inferior ovary 

 and a capsule fruit. There are only two important genera; firstly Bomarea 

 with nearly 120 species, occurring in Mexico and central and South America, 



