512 H^MODORACE^. (bLOODWORT FAMILY.) 



Order 112. H^EMODORACE^E. (Bloodwokt Family.) 



Herbs, icith fibrous roots, usualhj equitant leaves, and perfect 3 - (i-antlroas 

 regular ^fiotcers, tc/iich are woolly or scurfy outside ; the tube of the 6-lobed 

 perianth coherent icith the whole surface, or vnth merely the lower part, of 

 the ^-celled ovary. — Anthers introrse. Style single, sometimes 3-partible : 

 the 3 stio-mas alternate with the cells of the ovarv. Capsule crowned or 

 enclosed by the persistent perianth, 3-celled, loculicidal, 3 - many-seeded. 

 Embryo small, in hard or fleshy albumen. A small family ; chiefly of the 

 southern hemisphere. 

 * Ovary wholly adherent to the calyx-tube ; style filiform ; seeds peltate, ainphitropous. 



1. Lachnanthes. Stamens 3, exserted ; anthers A'ersatile. Leaves equitant. 



* * Ovary free except at the base ; style 3-partible ; seeds anatroxjous. 



2. liophiola. Stamens 6, on the base of the woolly 6-cleft perianth. Leaves equitant. 



3. Aletris. Stamens 6, in the throat of the warty-roughened and tubular 6-toothed peri- 



anth. Leaves flat, spreading. 



1. LACHNANTHES, L. Red-root. 



Perianth woolly outside, 6-parted down to the adherent ovary. Stamens 3, 

 opposite the 3 larger or inner divisions; filaments lung, exserted; anthers 

 linear, fixed by the middle. Style thread-like, exserted, declined. Capsule 

 globular. Seeds few on each fleshy placenta, flat and rounded, fixed by the 

 middle. — Herb, with a red fibrous perennial root, equitant sword-shaped leaves, 

 clustered at the base and scattered on the stem, which is hairy at the top and 

 terminated by a dense compound cyme of dingy yellow and loosely woolly 

 flowers (whence the name, from Xaxvf], wool, and avdos, blossom). 



1. L. tinetoria, Ell. — Sandy swamps, near the coast, S. E. Mass., R. I., 

 and N. J. to Fla. July - Sept. 



2. LOPHIOLA, Ker. 



Perianth densely woolly, deeply 6-cleft ; the divisions nearly equal, spread- 

 ing, longer than the 6 stamens, which are inserted at their base. Anthers fixed 

 by the base. Capsule ovate, free from the perianth except at the base, pointed 

 with the awl-shaped style, which finally splits into 3 divisions, one terminating 

 each valve. Seeds numerous, oblong, ribbed, anatropous. — A slender peren- 

 nial herb, with creeping rootstocks and fibrous roots, linear and nearly smooth 

 equitant leaves ; the stem leafless and whitened with soft matted wool toward 

 the summit, as also the crowded or panicled cyme. Perianth dingy yellow 

 inside ; the lobes naked only toward the tip, each clothed with a woolly tuft 

 near tbe base (wlience the name, from \o(p€7ov, a small crest). 



1. L. aurea, Ker. — Boggy pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. June- Aug. 



3. ALETRIS, L. Colic-root. Star-grass, 



Perianth cylindrical, not woolly, but wrinkled and rougliened outside by 

 thickly -set points which look like scurfy mealiness, the tube cohering below 

 with the base only of tlie ovary, 6-cleft at the summit. Stamens 6, inserted at 

 the base of tlie lobes ; filaments and anthers short, included. Style awl shaped, 

 3-cleft at the apex; stigmas minutely 2-lobed. Carsule ovate, encloserl in the 



