150 



MONOCOTYLEDONS 



spirals up the stem. Like the Mangrove tree, it forms numerous 

 adventitious roots from the lower part of its trunk, which look like 

 artificial props. At the end of these roots, root-caps can \}e seen very 

 distinctly. The male flowers, growing on a long, pendulous spadix, 

 enclosed within large, leaf-like, yellow bracts, yield a most delightful 



fragrance. The fruit borne on separate 

 trees (dioecious) is, similar to the pine- 

 apple, a collective fruit consisting of 

 united, fibrous drupes. 



The Duckweed Family {Lenuiacem) 

 is another allied family. The Common 

 Duckweed {Lemna globosa; Kan. 

 Nirata) is a minute, scale-like, green 

 water-plant, kept horizontally on the 

 surface of stagnant water by one long, 

 vertical root hanging in the water. The 

 plant flowers rarel}^ and is chiefly propa- 

 gated by side-shoots issuing from the 

 mother plant. They multiply at such 

 a rate that whole ponds become covered with them, as with a green 

 carpet, in a very short time. 



Fig. 135. — Duckweed {Lemna). 



34. The Lily Family 



(Liliacese). 



Perennial, usually bulbous herbs with parallel-veined leaves. 

 Flowers radial. Perianth regular, six-leaved in two whorls. Stamens 

 six in two whorls. Ovarj^ superior, formed of three carpels. Fruit 

 a three-celled capsule. 



The Glory Lily (Gloriosa stiperba). 



(Klin. Karadi-kauuu, Sivasakti-balli. Mdl. Mettonni. Tarn. Kandal. 

 San. Amrata, Haripriya.) 



1 . The Gloriosa is one of our most beautiful ornamental plants. 

 ''During the rains you find it shooting in tlie lanes, bordered 

 tliickly by huge Euphorbia and Aloe, or in l)aniboo-thickets. 

 The grace of its form, amidst the stout and ugly plants with 

 their fierce thorns and spikes, and the gaiety and warmth of 

 its flowers amidst the sullen and cold gray of the surroundings 

 have, no doubt, given cause to the superl) name the flower bears.'* 



