TLATE III. 



1. AGAPANTHUS UMBELLATUS. 



AFRICAN AGAPANTHUS. 



This genus coniprclicncis the African Lih/. 



It liclongs to the class and ovdcr oUIcraudna Monogijnia, "^nd 

 ranks in the natural order of LiUacccK. 



The characters of which are: that the calyx is a spalhe common, 

 gaping at the side: the corolla is one-petalled, funnel-shaped, and 

 regular the tube cornered, as if composed of six claws; the border 

 six-parted, wilh the parts oblong and spreadmg: the stamina are six 

 filaments inserted into the throat, shorter than the corolla, decimate: 

 the anthers are kidney-shaped and incumbent: the pistdlum is a 

 superior germ, oblong, three-cornered; the style filiform, of the 

 length of the stamina, and declinate ; the stigma simple or tnfid : the 

 pericarpium is an oblong capsule, three-sided, three-celled, three- 

 valved : valves navicular, with contrary dissepiment : the seeds nume- 

 rous, oblong, compressed, and enlarged wilh a meml^rane. 



There is only one species, ihe A. umhcUatus, African Blue, or 



Asphodel Lily. 



It has the root composed of many thick fleshy fibres, diverging 

 from the same head, striking deep i nto the ground, and pulling out 

 many smaller fibres, which are of a white colour and fleshy. From 

 the same head arises a cluster of leaves surrounding each other at 

 the base, so as to form a kind of herbaceous stalk about three inches 

 in height, from which the leaves spread only two ways, appearing 

 flat in°the other two. The leaves are thick, succulent, about a foot 

 long, and near an inch broad, compressed, and of a dark green co- 



