275 



CCXLVIII. GILLIESIE^E. 



GiLLiESiEii:, Li7idl. in Bot. Reg. 992. (1826) ; Hooker in Bot. May. 2^\r,. (1827.) 



Diagnosis. Hexapetaloidebus monocotyledoas, with a superior ova- 

 rium, and irregular petaloid involucella. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character. — Flowers hermaphrodite, surrounded by bractese, the outer 

 of whicli are petaloid and herbaceous, the inner depauperated and coloured. Periaathium 

 minute, either a single labelloid lobe, or an urceoiate 6-toothed body. Stamens C, either 

 all fertile, or 3 sterile and nearly obliterated. Ovarium superior, 3-celled ; style 1 ; stigma 

 simple. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence, many-seeded. Seeds 

 attached to the axis, by means of a broad hollow neck; testa black and brittle; embryo 

 curved in the midst of fleshy allnimen — Small herbaceous plants, with tunicated bulbs. 

 Leaves grass-like. Flowers umbellate, somewhat spathaceous, inconspicuous. 



Affinities. The distinctions of many of the natural orders among 

 Hexapetaloideous Dicotyledons are so slight, as far as technical characters 

 are capable of being employed, that the separation of this tribe from Aspho- 

 deleae seems justifiable, even now that the structure of the seeds is knowHj 

 and that they are found to be essentially those of Asphodelese, except in 

 having a crustaceous neck that connects them with the placenta. The 

 tribe was originally proposed in the Botanical Register, from which, as 

 that work is in few hands, I make the following rather long extract. 



" The whole structure of this most remarkable plant is so peculiar, that 

 we scarcely know whether the definition and description of the parts of 

 fructification above given will not be considered more paradoxical than just; 

 and yet, if the analogies the various organs bear to those of other plants 

 be carefully considered, their structure will scarcely admit of any other 

 interpretation. With respect to the five petaloid leaves, which are here 

 described as bractese, and which bear a considerable degree of resemblance 

 to a perianthium, it may be observed, that this appearance is more apparent 

 than real; they neither correspond in insertion nor in number with the 

 segments of a monocotyledonous perianthium, nor do they bear the same 

 relation to the parts contained as a perianthium should bear. The three 

 outer are not inserted on the same line, but are distinctly imbricated at 

 the base ; and the two inner do not complete the second series, as would be 

 required in a regular monocotyledonous perianthium. 



" But if we were to admit, for a moment, the possibility of these bracteoe 

 being segments of a perianthium, what explanation could be given of the 

 setiform processes proceeding from their base, or of the central fleshy slipper- 

 like body from within which the stamens proceed ? The former bear no 

 determinate relation to the other parts of the flower in their insertion ; they 

 are subject to much diversity of form and number, being sometiuies eight, 

 consisting of truo unequal subulate bodies proceeding from the edges of 

 each lateral segment, the outermost of the two being wider than the inner- 

 most, and being, moreover, not unfrequently a manifest process of the 

 margin of the segment itself; sometimes having their number reduced to 

 four by the suppression of the exterior processes of each lateral segment; 

 and occasionally having the outer processes suppressed on one segment, 

 and hot suppressed on the other. In the many flowers which have been 

 under examination, the processes, moreover, were always constituted of 

 cellular tissue alone, without either tracheee or tubular vessels. These 

 circumstances being considered, it will scarcely be proposed, we presume, 

 to identify them with abortive stamina. If they are, notwithstanding what 

 has been advanced, determined to be the perianthium itself, what becomes 



