82 BOTANY. 



the three inner (petals) minute. Stamens three, inserted in the tube of the 

 perianth, opposite its inner segments, sometimes with three alternating 

 sterile filaments ; anthers dithecal. opening transversely, with a fleshy 

 connective. Ovary infei-ior, either one- or three-celled, in the latter case 

 the cells opposite the outer segments of the perianth ; ovules, 00 ; style, 

 simple ; stigmas, three. Fruit, a one- or three-celled, three-valved capsule, 

 <'rowned by the persistent perianth. Seeds 00, minute, striated Herbs, with 

 radical leaves and bisexual flowers. Natives of most grassy places in 

 tropical regions. They have no properties of importance. There are 

 about ten known genera and thirty-five species. Examples : Burmannia, 

 Apteria, vVpostasia. 



Order 31. iRiD.vcE.t:. the Iris Family. Perianth adherent, six-parted, 

 colored, in two, often unequal whorls. Stamens three, epigynous, opposite 

 the outer segments of the perianth ; filaments distinct or monadelphous ; 

 anthers two-celled, extroi'sc. Ovary inferior, three-celled ; ovules numerous, 

 iinatropal : style one : stigmas three, often petaloid, sometimes bilabiate. 

 Fruit, a three-celled, three-valved capsule, with loculicidal dehiscence. 

 Seeds numerous ; embryo inclosed in horny or fleshy albumen ; radicle next 

 the hilum. Herbs, rarely undershrubs, with rhizomes or underground corms, 

 having their leaves often equitant or distichous, and their flowers spatha- 

 ceous. Natives chiefly of warm and temperate regions. They abound 

 at the Cape of Good Hope. There arc fifty-three known genera, and five 

 hundred and fifty species. Examples : Iris, Sisyrinchium, Witsenia, Gladio- 

 lus, Ixia, Crocus. 



Certain plants of this order have an economical value. Orris-root is ob- 

 tained from Iris florentina. The roasted seeds of I. pseudacorus have been 

 used as a substitute for coffee. Saffron consists of the stigmata of Crocus sati- 

 vus. a species originalW from Asia Minor, now extensively spread. Numerous 

 species of Iris occur in North America ; Sis^n-inchium or Blue-e}' ed grass also 

 belongs here. 



PI. 58, 59, fig. 4. at, Iris germanica, an European species. PI. 5S,fig. 3, 

 Crocus sativus. 



Order 32. Musace.e, the Banana Family. Perianth six-cleft, adherent, 

 petaloid, in two whorls, more or less irregular. Stamens six, inserted on 

 the middle of the segments of the perianth, some usually abortive ; anthers 

 linear, dithecal, introrse, often Avith a membranous petaloid crest. Ovary 

 inferior, three-celled ; ovules numerous, anatropal ; style simple ; stigma 

 usually three-lobed. Fruit, cither a three-celled capsule, with loculicidal 

 dehiscence, or succulent and indehiscent. Seeds sometimes surrounded by 

 hairs ; testa usually crustaceous ; embryo erect in the axis of mealy albumen ; 

 radicle touching the hilum. Plants without true aerial stems, or nearly so, 

 having shoots proceeding from subterranean root-stocks, which form spurious 

 stems, composed of the sheathing leaf-stocks. Veins in the limb of the leaf 

 parallel, and proceeding in a curved manner from the midrib to the margin. 

 Flowers bursting through spathas. Natives of warm and tropical regions : 

 there are five known genera and twenty-one species. Examples : MuSa, 

 Strelitzia, Ravcnala, Heliconia. 

 82 



