Narcissales.] 



AMARYLLIDACE^. 



155 



Order XLVI. AMARYLLIDACE^E.— Amaryllids. 



Narcissi, the second section, Jtiss. Gen. 54. (1789).— Amaryllideas, R. Brown Prodr. 296. (1810) • Her- 

 bert, Appendix to the Bot. Mag. (1821) ; Id. Amaryllid, (1837) ; Endl. Gen. Ixiv. ; Meisner, p. 393 

 —yaixissese J(jardh. Aph. 173. (1823). 



Diagnosis. — Narcissal Endogens tvith hexapetaloideoiis much imbricated floivers, 6 or move 

 stamens with the anthers turned imoards, and the radicle next the hilum. 



Generally bulbous plants, sometimes fibrous-rooted, occasionally with a tall, cylin- 

 drical, woody stem. Leaves ensiform, with parallel veins, rarely expanded at the sides 



into an oval lamma 

 with a nan-ow stalk. 

 Flowers usually 

 with spathaceous 

 bracts. Scape not l 

 spadiceous. Calyx 

 and corolla con- 

 founded, adherent, 

 regular, coloured, 

 the former over- 2 

 lapping the latter. 

 Stamens 6, arising 

 from the sepals and 

 petals, sometimes ^*^- *^'I^^- 



cohering by their dilated bases into a 

 kind of cup ; sometimes an additional 

 series of barren stamens is present, 

 often forming a cup wdiich surmoimts 

 the tube of the perianth ; anthers 

 bursting inwardly. Ovai'y 3-celled, 

 the cells opposite the sepals, many- 

 seeded, or sometimes 1- or 2-seeded ; 

 ovules anatropal ; style 1 ; stigma 3- 

 lobed. Fruit either a 3-celled, 3- 

 valved capsule, with locuhcidal dehis- 

 cence, or a 1-3-seeded bei*ry. Seeds 

 with either a thin and membranous, 

 or a brittle and black or a thick and 

 fleshy testa ; albumen fleshy or cor- 

 neous ; embryo nearly straight, with 

 its radicle tm-ned towards the hilum. 

 The only Orders with which this 

 need be compared are the Lilies, from 

 which it is known by its inferior ova- 

 ry : the Irids, which are distin- 

 guished by being triandrous, with the 

 anthers tm'iied outwards ; and the 



Fig. cm. 



Blood-roots and Hypoxids are known, the fii'st by the nature of their albumen, and the 

 latter by the lateral position of their embryo, &c. No one has ever thought of dismem- 

 bering it, smce Browni 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, Agave and Fourcroya, the stems of 

 which are woody, and Gethyllis, because of its being poly androus. The latter deviation 

 from the ordinary character of the Order will probably be considered of less importance, 

 if we bear in mind the polyandrous structm*e of some Blood-roots, and especially if, in 

 the first place, the genuine Amarylhdaceous genus Phycella be attended to, which has 

 a tendency to produce additional stamens ; and if, secondly, the coronet of Narcissus 

 itself be borne in mind, which is in fact an organ representing an extra number of sta- 

 mens. I have elsewhere remarked {Bot. Reg. 1341.) that this is connected with a strong 

 tendency in the whole Order to form another set of male organs between the perianth 



..p. . 1. a flower cut open, and showing that there is a bifid tooth, 



forming a coronet or cup, between each stamen ; 2. a transverse section of the ovary. 



t:.:„ r.iAr » , .. :„ ,..,__..:... 1 , A scction of its capsulc ; 2. a perpendicular section of its seed. 



Fig. cm. — Pancratium niaritinmm. 



arming a coronet or cup, between eai ' 



Fig. CIV.— Alstrcemeria Pelegrina. 



