2/2 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



Dilatris. — Stamens 3. Fruit inferior, 3-celled, 

 Lanaria. — Stamens 6, Fruit inferior, i-celled. 

 Perianth not hairy, deciduous. 

 Sansevieria. — Perianth with a long tube. Fruit free. 

 Cyanella. — Stamens unequal. Ovary half inferior. Perianth de- 

 ciduous. 



Wachendorfia. — Perianth funnel-shaped ; sepals hairy 

 outside. Stamens opposite the sepals. Capsule i -seeded, 

 splitting at the midrib of each carpel. Plants with yellow or 

 brownish flowers, tuberous roots lance-like, plaited leaves and 

 red juice. Malmesbury to Uitenhage. 



Lanaria ("Cape Edelweiss"). — L. pltimosa, Ait., is a 

 plant densely coated with white, 

 soft-spreading, plume-like hairs on 

 branches and flowers. Flowers in a 

 dense panicle. Rootstock of fleshy 

 fibres. Leaves several, in a rosette 

 at the base of the stem, together with 

 the fibrous remains of old ones. 



Found about Port Elizabeth, 

 Riversdale, and in Bain's Kloof. 



Cyanella has racemes or panicles 

 of delicate blue or yellow flowers, 

 and may be easily recognized by the 

 peculiar hand-like centre composed 

 of the •stamens, one of which is much larger than the others. 

 Stamens opening by terminal pores. Leaves appearing before 

 or with the flowers. Rootstock a corm, deeply sunk in the 

 soil. 



Fig. 245. — Floral diagram of 

 Cyanella. 



Order Musace/E. (Included in Scitaminece, Bentham and 

 Hooker). 



Perianth 6-parted ; both sepals and petals coloured. 

 Stamens 5 or i. Anthers 2-celled. Ovary 3-celled, inferior. 

 Fruit a berry, or capsule. Large herbs with a rhizome and 

 leaves rolled in the bud. The leaves are large, oval, with a 

 stout midrib and parallel veins running from it to the edge. 

 As they do not join as in Dicotyledons, they easily tear and 



