MELANTIIACE^E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) ioj 



10. YUCCA, L. Spanish Bayonet. 



Perianth cup-shaped, corolla-like, 6-leaved. Sepals and petals nearly alike, 

 late-deciduous. Stamens 6, with thick granular club-shaped filaments : anthers 

 small, oval. Ovary 3-celled, 3-sided, grooved at the angles. Stigma.-. 3, nearly 

 sessile, oblong, concave, 2-cleft. Ovules numerous, in two rows, the rows sep- 

 arated by a false partition. Capsule oblong, 6-celled, pulpy and indebiscent, or 

 dry and loculicidally 3-valved at the apex. Seeds numerous, flat, horizontal, 

 smooth and black. — Plants with thick palm-like leafy stems (caudex), numer- 

 ous rigid and spine-pointed leaves, and white showy panicled flowers. 



* Stem short : capsule dry, 3-valved. 



1. Y. filamentosa, L (Bear-Grass ) Stem short and leafy; leaves 

 rather rigid, spreading or recurved, varying from linear to broad-lanceolate, 

 green or glaucous, with thread-like filaments on the margins ; scape elongated, 

 branching and pubescent above ; leaves of the perianth ovate-lanceolate, white 

 tinged with yellow or purple; capsule with 3 rounded angles, loculicidal at the 

 apex, and at length separating at the indexed sutures into three 2-celled carpels. 

 (Y. puberula and Y. glaucescens, Haw.) — Light or sandy soil, Plorida to North 

 Carolina, and westward. June. — Stem rarely more than a foot above the 

 ground. Leaves 1° - 2° long Scape 4° - 6° high. 



* * Stem tall : capsule pulpy, 6-angled, indehiscent. 



2. Y . gloriosa, L. Stem mostly simple, leafy at the summit ; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, rigid, smooth on the margins ; panicle large, smooth, pyrami- 

 dal, short-peduncled ; flowers white, single or clustered ; leaves of the perianth 

 lanceolate, acute. — Drifting sands along the coast, Florida to North Carolina, 

 and westward. May and June. — Stem 2° -4° high. Leaves l°-lA° long. 

 Panicle 2° - 3° long 



3. Y. aloifolia, L. Stem mostly branching, leafy above; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, very rigid, strongly spine-pointed, very rough on the margins, the 

 lower ones reflexed ; panicle short, smooth, densely flowered, nearly sessile ; divis- 

 ions of the perianth ovate-lanceolate, white tinged with purple. (Y. Draconis, 

 L. Y. serrulata, Haw.) — Sands along the coast, Florida to North Carolina. 

 May and June. — Stem 4° - 8° high. Leaves and panicle l°-lj° long. 



4 Y. recurvifolia, Salisb. Leaves linear-lanceolate, recurved, with the 

 margins sometimes filamentose ; interior leaves of the perianth wider than the 

 exterior. — On the sea-coast of Georgia, Elliott. July and Aug. — Stem about 

 3° high. Flowers white, tinged occasionally with green and purple ( *) 



Order 152. MELANTHACEiE. (Colchicum Family.) 



Perennial herbs, with parallel-nerved leaves, and regular flowers. 



Perianth of 6 nearly equal divisions, free from or coherent with the base 



of the 3-celled ovary. Stamens 6 (in Pleea 9-12), inserted on the base of 



the perianth: anthers extrorse (except in Tofieldia and Pleea) Styles 



41* 



