142 



oO. LILIACE.E. 



1. Muscari comosutn, 



Mill. Tufted Grape Hyacinth. 

 Leaves 3-4, longer than stem, 

 weak, deeply channeled lO-lo 

 mm. (aboiit | in.) broad, rough 

 on the edges ; flowers scentless, 

 on pedicels much longer than the 

 fruit, lower ones brownish, hori- 

 zontal,_ distant, the uppermost 

 violet-blue, erect, forming a long 

 terminal corymbose cluster ; peri- 

 anth obovoid. 



Cultivated fields, roadsides, 

 Adelaide Plains. — Sept. - Nov. — 

 Mediterranean region. 



2. M. negrlectum, Gus- 

 sone. Leaves 5-16, longer than 

 stem, semi-cylindrical, 3-6 mm. 

 broad ; flowers dark - purple, 

 scented, in a dense oblong 

 raceme, on recurved pedicels 

 rather shorter than the fruit ; 

 perianth ovoid-oblong. 



Cultivated and grass land, 

 Sept. — Mediterranean region. 



Muscari comosum. 



Adelaide Plains. — Aug.- 



Aloe latifolia. 



4. Aloe, L. 



1. Aloe latifolia, L. Haw. 



Broad-leaved Aloe. Stem short, 

 tliick, and becoming more appar- 

 ent as the lower leaves perish ; 

 leaves spirally arranged in a 

 dense rosette, 20-30 cm. (8-12 in.) 

 long by 5-8 cm. (2-3 in.) broad, 

 oval-lanceolat^", thick and fleshy, 

 olive - green to reddish - brown, 

 mottled with oblong white spots 

 in irregular transverse rows and 

 often confluent, bordered by tri- 

 angular, horny teeth ; peduncle 

 stout, erect, simple or forked ; 

 flowers Vermillion, in a short, 

 den.se. terminal raceme; pedicel 

 rather shorter than flower, with 

 a lanceolate, long-pointod bract 

 at base; perianth cylindrical, 

 40-45 mm. (over 1-J in.) long, 

 narrowed above the ovary, seg- 

 ments united in a tube for more 

 than half their length, scarcely 

 spreading at tip ; stamens at- 



