40 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



like bracts; flowers in simple or panicled spikes, perfect, 

 bracted ; perianth tubular-funnel form, 6-lobed, persistent ; 

 stamens 6, inserted at the base of the perianth, exserted, 

 anthers versatile ; ovary 3-celled, 3-lobed, many-ovuled, style 

 filiform, exserted, stigma 3-lobed, fruit a 3-celled, 3-valved, 

 many-seeded, dehiscent capsule, seeds compressed. 



A. ViRGiNiCA L. False Aloe. Whole plant smooth and glau- 

 cous ; leaves lanceolate, thick, long, acuminate and spine-pointed, 

 sparingly denticulate, surface often mottled ; scape erect, simple, 

 very white-glaucous, 3-5 ft. high ; spike simple, flowers greenish- 

 yellow, perianth tubular, strongly nerved, about 1 in. long, lobes 

 short, slightly spreading ; filaments and style spotted, capsule coria- 

 ceous, 3-lobed at the apex, seeds shiny. June-August. In dry soil. 



A. Americana L., the century plant, is often cultivated for orna- 

 ment in the southern section. 



V. HYPOXIS. 



Low herbs ; rootstock short, tuberous ; leaves grass-like ; 

 scape naked, bearing a few yellow flowers in a bracted umbel, 

 perianth 6-parted, spreading, persistent, the outer segments 

 green on the outside, tube short ; stamens 6, inserted at the 

 top of the tube, short, unequal ; ovary 3-celled, many-ovuled, 

 style short and thick, stigmas 3, fruit a top-shaped, many- 

 seeded capsule, the upper portion with the withered perianth 

 falling off at maturity, seeds globose, black, beaked by their 

 persistent stalks. 



H. HiRSUTA (L.) Coville. Star-grass. Leaves linear, grass-like, 

 channeled above, hirsute or woolly, becoming longer than the scape ; 

 scapes 1-4, slender, somewhat flattened, usually smooth below and 

 hairy above, 3-6 in. high ; bracts subulate, shorter than the unequal, 

 hairy pedicels ; perianth segments oblong, obtuse, yellow within, 

 green and hairy without, stamens unequal, longer than the style ; 

 capsule several-seeded, seeds angled. March-July. Common on low 

 ground. 



VI, LOPHIOLA. 



Perennial herbs from slender rootstocks ; stem leafy ; leaves 

 linear and rigid ; inflorescence in a terminal, woolly, cymose 

 panicle ; flowers small, yellow, woolly without, perianth 6- 



