1917-18.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 291 



They fall into three series, to which I have given names : — 



1. Oxypetala. — Btilb small with many narrow not connivent scale- 



leaves. Stem one-Howered not rooting above bulb. Foliage- 

 leaves linear sparse. Perianth funnel-shaped or concave. 

 Perianth-segments equal or slightly unequal, rarely petals fringed 

 at base. Petaline glands crested all over. Staminal filaments 

 not inflated. 



Here belong : — Fritillaria flavida, lophophora, oxypetala, 

 Stracheiji; undescribed, Ward sp. No. 758, Ward sp. Nos. 741, 813. 



2. Eunomocharis. — Bulb larger with few ovate lanceolate fleshy 



scale-leaves. Stem racemosely flowered rooting above bulb. 

 Foliage-leaves oval-lanceolate or lanceolate, whorled, sparse 

 below and sometimes above. Perianth open, often flat. Perianth- 

 segments usually dissimilar, petals broadest, usually dentate- 

 fringed above middle or erose. Petaline glamls with fan- 

 shaped, fringed lap. Staminal filaments pyriform, much inflated, 

 convex at top with much shorter subulate tip springing from 

 centre. 



Here belong : — Xomocharis leucantha, Mairei, meleagrina, 

 pardanthina. 



3. Ecristata. — Bulb larger with many fleshy lanceolate scale-leaves. 



Stem racemosely flowered or with 1 terminal flower, rooting 

 above bulb. Foliage-leaves lanceolate spai'se or in pairs. 

 Perianth more or less open. Perianth-segments subequal entire 

 below tip. Petaline glands with a flap not fringed. Staminal 

 filaments slightly inflated, tapering into much shorter subulate 

 tip. 



Here belong : — Undescribed, Forrest sp. No. 493, Forrest sp. 

 No. 10,620, Ward sp. No. 801. 



The whole of them approach Lilium in their bulb. 

 They diverge in the petaline glands. If anyone be bold 

 enough to combine in one genus Lilium and Fritillaria, 

 then all these forms would also go into the new combina- 

 tion. But I do not see what advantage would be gained 

 by such an aggregation, either as giving a phyletic picture 

 or as a statement of observed facts. 



From Fritillaria — to which in outward appearance the 

 first series in particular shows great resemblance— they 

 diverge in the bulb form, the more or less open perianth, 

 and the petaline glands. 



To refer all these forms to Fritillaria — an obvious sug- 

 gestion — notwithstanding the difference, would be to 

 ignore, I think, evident phyletic developments which have 

 gone quite as far in a divergent direction from Fritillaria 

 as to warrant segregation of the forms presenting them in 

 a named genus. If we were to include them in Fritillaria 

 they would claim the position of a subgenus. Certainly, 

 as generic characters go in Liliaceae, the characters wliich 



