CXXIX. AMAKYLLIDACE.i;. 74/ 



a loculicidal capsule, rarely fleshy and bursting irregularly. Seeds few 

 or many ; albumen fleshy, enclosing the small embryo. — Distrib. 

 Genera 64 ; species about 050, in temperate and tropical regions. 



Kootstock tuberoTi8 ; leaves strongly nerved, flat or plicate ; 

 flowers spicate or racemose ; perianth yellow, not showy. 



Fruit opening at the top as a circiunscissile or ^-valveJ 

 capsule ; ovary not produced above the crown into a stipe 



supporting the perianth 1. Ilyroxis. 



Fruit indehiscent ; ovary often produced into a stipe between 



the crown and the base of the perianth-lobes 2. Curculigo. 



Kootstock a tunicated bulb; leaves not strongly nerved, flat, 

 smooth ; flowers at the apex of a scape, usually umbellate ; 

 perianth white or pink, not yellow, large and showy. 



Filaments attached to the perianth-lobes but not connate ... 3. Crinum. 

 Filaments united towards their base by an intervening petaloid 



membrane 4. Pancratium. 



1. HYPOXIS, Linn. 



Herbs with a tuberous rootstock or a tunicate membranous or fibrous 

 corm. Leaves narrow, radical, stronglj'' nerved. Flowers solitary, or 

 racemose, or umbellate ; bracts small, linear, or obsolete. Perianth 

 rotate, 6-partite, persistent, sessile on the top of the inferior ovary. 

 Stamens 6, adnate to the base of and shorter than the perianth-segments ; 

 filaments short ; anthers erect, dorsifixed. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; 

 ovules many, 2-seriate in each cell ; style short, columnar ; stigmas 3, 

 erect, stout, distinct or connate. Emit a globose or oblong capsule, 

 opening by 3 valves or circumscissilely. Seeds globose ; testa crusta- 

 ceous, shining, beaked at the tip. — Distrib. Species about 50, widely 

 diff"used but rare in Asia ; numerous in S. Africa. 



1, Hypoxis aurea. Lour. Fl. Cochinch. (1790) p. 200. Dioecious; 

 rootstock subglobose, or elongate and erect, crowned with the fibrous 

 remains of old leaves. Leaves 6-12, narrowly linear, 4-14 by y\j-^ in., 

 subcoriaceous, acute, keeled. Scapes 1-4, filiform, 1-4 in. long, 1 (less 

 commonly 2) -flowered, nearly glabrous or sparsely clothed with pale 

 brown hairs ; bracts setaceous. Ovary broadly clavate, g-| in. long, 

 clothed with golden-brown short shining hairs. Perianth-segments 

 l-g in. long, thinly hairy, elliptic-lanceolate, yellow, the outer green at 

 the back. Anthers sagittate. Capsules with thin walls, oblong or 

 clavate-oblong, ^-^ in. long, ultimately 3-valved, crowned with the 

 erect perianth-segments. Seeds black, finely tuberculate. El. B. I, v. 6, 

 p. 277; Baker, in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 17 (1880) p. 108; Woodr. in 

 Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 522; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 1058. 

 Curculigo graminifolia, Nimmo, ex Grab. Cat. PI. Bo. (1839) p, 215 ; 

 Dalz. & Gibs. p. 276. — Flowers : July. 



KoNKAN : Shivnar Fort, Balzell S( Gibson. Deccan : Balzcll, 10 ! ; Khandala, 

 Graham, Balzell ^- Gibson, Woodrow ; Purandhar, Br. Barnes ! ; Mahableshwar, 

 H. M. Birdwood. S. M. Country : Belgaum, Ritchie, 1443.', Talbot, 2276! Kanara : 

 Law ! — DisTRiB. Throughout India in hilly parts ; Java, China, Japan, Philippines. 



2. CURCULIGO, G«rtn. 



Herbs with a tuberous rootstock or a tunicate corm. Leaves lanceo- 

 late and plicate, or linear and flat, often large. Flowers spicate, racemose 



