259 



stamens, by their anthers turning inwards, or, if their stamens are reduced 

 to three by those organs then being opposite the petals, by their simple 

 stigma, and by the texture of their albumen. From Bromeliacese, to which 

 they approach by Barbacenia and Vellozia, they are known by being gene- 

 rally hexapetaloideous, not tripetaloideous. According to Mr. Don, the 

 genera Vellozia, Barbacenia, and Xerophyta, probably constitute an inter- 

 mediate group between the HypoxidefE and Bromeliacese {Jameson s Journal, 

 Jan. 1830, p. 166). Mr. Don finds the seeds of Barbacenia purpurea to 

 be "compressed, cuneiform, and truncate at the apex, and narrowed towards 

 the base, which is furnished with a protuberance arising from the elongation 

 of the testa and umbilical cords. The testa is coriaceous, and marked out- 

 wardly with numerous shallow furrows." In this order, as well as in Ge- 

 thyllis among Amaryllidese, there are polyandrous species; a remarkable 

 anomaly in monocotyledons, which rarely exceed the number 6 in their 

 stamens. The Vellozias are singular in the tribe for their arborescent di- 

 chotomous trunks and tufted leaves. 



Geography, Found in North America sparingly, abundantly at the 

 Cape of Good Hope and in high land in Brazil, and 12 are described chiefly 

 from the more temperate parts of New Holland. 



Properties. M. Decandolle remarks, that the red colour found in the 

 roots of Dilatris tinctoria in North America, where it is used for dyeing, pre- 

 vails in Hsemodorum and Wachendorfia, and deserves to be studied in the 

 rest of the order. 



Examples. Haimodorum, Conostylis, Dilatris, Lanaria. 



CCXXXVIII. AMARYLLIDE^. The Narcissus Tribe. 



Narcissi, the second section, Juss. Gen. 54. (1789) Amakyllide^., R. Broum 



Prodr. 290. (1810); Herbert Appendix to the Bot. Mag. (1821); Dec. and Duby, 

 454. (1828); Lindl. Synops. 264. (1829).— Narcisse.e, Agardh Aph. 173. (1823.) 



Diagnosis. Hexapetaloideous bulbous hexandrous monocotyledons, 

 with an inferior ovarium, a 6-parted perianthium with equitant sepals, and 

 jflat spongy seeds. 



Anomalies. Gethyllis is polyandrous. Clivia and Doryanthes have 

 fascicled roots. 



Essential Character Calyx and corol/a confounded, superior, regular, coloured, 



the former overlapping the latter. Stamens 6, arising from the sepals and petals, some- 

 times cohering by their dilated bases into a kind of cup ; sometimes an additional series 

 of barren stamens is present, often forming a cup which surmounts the tube of the perian- 

 thium ; anthers bursting inwardly. Ovarium 3-celled, the cells many-seeded, or some- 

 times I- or 2-seeded ; style 1 ; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit either a 3-celled, 3-valved capsule, 

 with loculicidal dehiscence, or a 1-3-seeded berry. Seeds with either a thin and mem- 

 branous, or thick and fleshy testa; albumen fleshy; embryo nearly straight, with its 



radicle turned towards the hilum Generally bulbous, someumea fibrous-rooted. Leaves 



ensiibrm, with parallel veins. Flowers usually with spathaceous bractess*. 



Affinities. The only orders with which this need be compared are 

 Asphodeleaj and Liliacese, from which it is known by its inferior ovarium ; 

 Iridese, which are distinguished by being triandrous, with the anthers turned 

 outwards ; and Htemodoraceae, which see. No one has ever thought of dis- 

 membering it, since Mr. Brown founded it upon Jussieu's 2d section of 

 Narcissi ; and it can scarcely be said to comprehend an anomalous genus, 

 unless Clivia and Doryanthes be so considered, on account of their fascicled 

 roots, and Gethyllis, because of its being polyandrous. The latter deviation 



