ON lANTHK, A GKNMS OF HYPOXIbACE.Ii 291 



edge ; its flowers are very large, solitary, and seldom in more than 

 one or two of the inner axils ; peduncle fistular, with a long 

 sheathing foliaceous bract towards the bottom; pericarpium trilocu- 

 lar, but as it ripens tlie partitions, which are very thin, nearly vanish, 

 and the centre of the placentas becomes hollow ; petals only ex- 

 panded during sunshine ; filaments inserted in two series on the 

 disc of the pericarpium, and nearer to the style than to the petals ; 

 midrib of anthers an uninterrupted continuation of the filament; 

 stigmata united nearly up to the top ; and seeds inserted in many 

 rows. Lastly, to Hypu.vis I only refer those species which agree 

 with Linne's type, erecta, in having perennial roots full of yellow or 

 orange-coloured juice ; leaves continuing to vegetate nearly through 

 the whole year, and never decaying all at the same time, trifarious, 

 generally pubescent, sharply keeled, not unlike those of Garex ; 

 slender tough angulated solid peduncles ; panicled or solitary 

 flowers, the two lowest generally opposite ; a small bract at the 

 base of each pedicel ; petals of one yellow colour internally ; fila- 

 ments inserted conjointly in the marginal disc of the pericarpium 

 and base of the petals ; anthers ' pivotantes ' or nearly so, as the 

 French well express this sort of insertion, their midrib far broader 

 than the top of the filaments, not confluent ; seeds only in two 

 series on narrow placentas." In the series of specimens I have 

 examined, among the species referred by Salisbury to lanthe and 

 Spiloxene, the basifix anthers and free stigmas seem to be constant, 

 while in the hairy species of Hypoxis the anthers are uniformly 

 medifix and versatile (though not so freely movable as in Lilium), 

 and sagittate at the base, and the stigmas united. The constancy 

 of these two important floral characters, the basifix anthers and 

 free stigmas, justifies, I think, the separation of the entirely glabrous 

 species from the hairy species ; the former to be included in the 

 revived genus lanthe, which in an amended form is here defined. 



Ianthe. 

 Perigonii tubus supra ovarium baud productus ; segmenta sub- 

 sBqualia persistentiapatentia, interiora oblonga, exteriora lanceolata 

 dorso viridula. Stamina perigonii basi inserta ; filamenta erecta 

 subulata ; anther^e iutrors^e basifix^e lineari-oblongfe. Ovarium 

 erostre, clavatum vel subgloboso-turbinatum ; stigmata discreta 

 libera lanceolato-sagittata erecta ; ovula; in loculo 4-20 ; stylus 

 brevis subulatus. Capsula clavata vel subgloboso-turbinata, mem- 

 branacea, infra apicem circumscissa operculata, evalvis vel loculicide 

 trivalvis, septis saepe evanidis. Semina miuuta globosa curvato- 

 funiculata, lateraliter plusmiuus rostello biappendiculata ; testa 

 Crustacea lucida atro-castanea. Embryo albumine laxe carnoso 

 interdum fere farinaceo inclusus. — Herbse acaulescentes omnino 

 glabra. Folia graminoidea persistentia, haudplicata; omnia basi- 

 laria, cormo monocarpico prodeuntia. Pedunculi terminales, tametsi 

 simulate axillares. Flores solitarii, rarius in umbellam laxam 

 dispositi, lutei vel albidi. 



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