146. H^MODORACE^. 



versatile, 2-celled, rarely opening by pores. Ovary inferior, half- 

 inferior or superior, 3-celled ; with short 3-partite or entire style or 

 subsessile simple or 3-notched stigma. Ovules 1-many, axile, or 

 with 1 ascending from the inner angle, anatropous or semianatropous. 

 Fruit superior or inferior, capsular or indehiscent. Seeds various. 

 Embryo small, partially enclosed in the fleshy albumen. 



The family is an intermediate group with transitions from the Liliacefe, in which 

 family Sanseriera is here included (although it is placed in Htemodoraceae in the 

 Genera Plantarum), to the Iridese and Amaryllidacea? in the genera -v^-ith inferior 

 ovary. 



Peliosantlies with purple fls. and filaments connate in a ring closing the mouth 

 of the perianth has been foxmd by me under dense shade in the Duars, and will 

 probably be found in Punieah and the Mais of Orissa. 



FAM. 157. ROXBURGHIACEiE. 



(Stemonaeeae.) 



Herbs with short creeping or tuberous rhizome, erect or climbing, 

 with petioled alternate opposite or verticillate lanceolar or cordate 

 3-many costate leaves Avith parallel transverse sec. n. Flowers 

 regular, 2 -sexual, on axillary peduncles. Perianth superior or half- 

 superior of 2 2-merous whorls, tepals sub-similar, free or more or less 

 connate. Stamens 4, inserted opposite to and on the base of the tepals 

 or sub-hypogynous, anthers dorsifixed. Carpels 2, forming a 1 -celled 

 free or half-inferior ovary. Ovules 2 or more, erect from the base or 

 pendulous from the top of the cell, anatropous. Fruit (where known) 

 a 2-valved capsule. Seeds oblong with coriaceous testa, funicle more 

 or less hairy. Embryo nearly as long as the albumen with its radical 

 not far from the hilum. 



1. STEMONA, Lour. 



Root tuberous. L. lanceolar or ovate 3-9-costate. Flowers 

 solitary or few racemose, rather large. Stamens subhypogynous, 

 filaments very short, more or less connate in a ring, with linear erect 

 anthers, connective produced in a very long linear-lanceolate appen- 

 dage. Ovary free, compressed, with small sessile pointed stigma. 

 Ovules 2 or more erect. Capsule compressed, few -seeded. Seeds 

 erect, ovoid or oblong, terete, grooved, beaked, with thick testa. 



1. S. tuberosa, Lour. Syn. Roxburghia gloriosoides, Jones. 



A tAviner with somewhat the foliage of a Dioscorea except for the 

 secondary venation. Leaves ovate, cordate, caudate or shortly 

 caudate, 5" by 3" to 10-5" by 5-8", with 7-11 primary nerves from the 

 base of which 3-5 reach the tip, arcuate, with very fine close parallel 

 secondar}'- nerves. Petiole 2-3", somewhat thickened both ends. 

 Flowers erect foetid, greenish with manj* parallel purple nerves, 

 campanulate, l'3-2" long, tepals lanceolate acuminate, •2-- 25" broad 

 below. St. very large erect with stout red filaments deeply grooved 

 in front with crenuiate margins, anthers linear, inner layer of the 

 cells produced into a subulate point, pollen between waxy and floury. 

 Capsule 1-5", ovoid-oblong, 5-8-seeded. 



1100 



