Classification of Plants 263 



Tribe III. Vellozie^. — Rootstock not bulbous; leaves leathery, 

 persistent. Flowers solitary. 

 Vellozia. — The only genus. 



Pauridia. — Perianth with a short tube and spreading lobes. 

 Stamens opposite the inner segments. P. hyp ox id ides, Harv., is 

 the only species. It has a corm \ inch in diameter, crowned 

 with a rim of bristles. Leaves 6-12, sickle-shaped, 1-2 inches 

 long. Scapes several, about as long as the leaves. Perianth 

 yellow, tipped with green. 



This little plant, which is found about Cape Town on the hills and 

 flats, has had difficulty in finding a habitation. Lacking the usual number 

 of stamens, it was formerly placed among the Irideae. Linnaeus called it 

 Ixia. It has since been known as Romulea, Galaxia, and Hypoxis. 



Curculigo. — Perianth cut down to the ovary beak, fila- 

 ments short, anthers long, basifixed, dehiscing extrorsely. The 

 ovary is narrowed into a long beak resembling a perianth 

 tube. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, i-loculed, stigmas united. 

 Rootstock a rhizome or corm, with fibrous tunics. 



The flowers, yellow within and pale green without, resemble those of 

 Hypoxis. Western (near Okiep), Coast, Central, and Eastern regions. 



Hypoxis. — Perianth cut down to the ovary. Filaments 

 short ; anthers long, as in Curculigo ; ovary rarely beaked, 3- 

 loculed ; stigmas 3, separate or united. Capsule usually with 

 circumscissile dehiscence (splitting around near the middle). 

 Corms in the Western species, \ to i inch in diameter ; in the 

 East some species have corms from 2 to 4 inches in diameter. 

 Leaves plaited, found with the flowers. 



Plants often growing in moist places. Flowers usually yellow. H. 

 stellata, Linn., var, elegans, Pers., the most beautiful of the species, has 

 large white star-like flowers, marked at the centre with a splash of 

 iridescent colour. 



Gethyllis (Kukumakranka). — Perianth white with a long 

 slender tube, spreading limb. Stamens 6-20. Ovary hidden 

 among the sheaths of the bulb, ripening partly underground. 

 Fruit a yellowish, fragrant, edible berry, 2-3 inches long; leaves 

 frequently spirally twisted, generally appearing after the flowers, 

 with the fruit or later. 



