488 ANTHERICUM TULIPA. L^i ass vi. ORDER I. 



GENUS XV. ANTHERICUM.— Linn. Spiderwori. 



Nat. Ord. Aspho'dele^. R.Brown. 



Gen. Char. Perianth of six equal spreading elliptical deciduous 

 pieces, each with a gland near the base. Stamens with filiform 

 sinaple or mostly bearded filaments. Capsule roundish, three 

 celled. Seeds few, angular. — Name from a-A^i-/.o<ry applied by 

 the Greeks to the stem of the Asphodel. 



1. A. seroUinum, Linn. (Fig. 555.) Mountain Spiderwori. Leaves 

 semi-cylindrical, the lower ones on the stem dilated at the base ; flowers 

 mostly solitary. 



English Botany, t. 793.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 150.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 162. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 269. — Lloydia 

 serotinttf Salishur. — Phalangium serotinum^ Lam. Diet. 



Roots long, branched, fibrous from the base of the slender bulbs, and 

 with short creeping underground stems, bearing small bulbs at the 

 extremity, (the infant plant of another year). The whole plant smooth, 

 except a slight roughness in the lower ^art of the stem. Leaves nearly 

 round, linear, of a deep shining green, keeled at the back with a 

 slender rib on each side, the radical ones mostly two, longer than the 

 siem, flaccid, those of the stem short, rigid, erect, three or four in num- 

 ber, the upper ones almost like bractea, flattened at the base, and 

 somewhat sheathing the stem. Stem erect, from four to six inches 

 high, round, slender, scarcely striated, bearing at its extremity a 

 solitary fi,ower, white, the outer side marked with branched reddish 

 purple veins, sometimes green, which Mr. W. Wilson observes changes 

 to a purple after impregnation takes place, the perianth of six lanceo- 

 late erect or somewhat spreading pieces, each having a little above its 

 base a rather large yellow gland. Stamens on slender filaments^ 

 simple, slender, about half as long as the perianth. Anthers roundish, 

 yellow, of two cells, bursting laterally. Style short, stout, erect. 

 Stigma obtuse, of three angles. Capsule roundish oblong, mem- 

 branous, of three cells. Seeds few, angular, wrinkled, brown. 



Habitat. — The highest Welsh mountains ; rare. On Snowdon 

 Crib-y-Ddescil, near Llanberris ; and Cwne Idwal, Carnarvonshire. 

 On rocks by Twll du, and near the summit of Glyder Fawr. — Mr. W. 

 Wilson. 



Perennial ; flowering in June. 



GENUS XVL TULIPA.— Linn. Tulip. 



Nat. Ord. Lilia'ce^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Perianth campanulate, of six equal pieces. Stigmas 

 thick, sessile,Uhree lobed. Capsule oblong, three cornered. Seeds 



