436 IRIDACEAE, [Sisyrinchium. 
To the ee ance -OeSo eb Mineqettes may be characterized as Liliaceae with an inferior 
o pla e eg 
biter iibete oa —_ rebaven asrayrer very thick and spinose — and Fourcroya gigantea, 
Vent., a similar but taller plant with green and mostly spineless leaves. Besides these 
there are generally cultivated some occasionally found as escapes: Hippeastrum in several 
snag ade nthes in 8 species, Crinum Asiaticum, also C. australe, C. giganteu um and 
other: neratium maritimum gen other species; less common Polianthes tuberosa, 
pineal Tpabdstin. ete. 
Orper LXXXIJ. IRIDACEAE. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or irregular. Perianth superior, with 
6 petal-like segments. Stamens 3, sondkre at the base of the outer 
segments. Anthers erect, ae outw: vary inferior, 3-celled, 
with several ovules in each ec Style eae with 3 stigmas sometimes 
dilated and petal-like or baa. apsule 3-valved, loculicidal. Seeds 
albuminous, with a small embryo, the radicle next the hilum, — bs 
with usually a tuberous, creeping or bulbous rhizome. Leaves usually 
radical or equitant, that is, alternately sheathing on opposite sides of the 
stem, and vertically, not saarnnnielles flat ttened. Flowers usually terminal, 
solitary or in spikes, racemes or panicles. 
Al er, belonging chiefly to the temperate regions of the northern cheeses TH 
and southern Africa, with a few tropical and Australian species. In cultivation: baci 
tte of Gladiolus, Pardanthus Chinensis, Ferraria tigridia, Watsonia sp. and a few 
1. SISYRINCHIUM, L. 
Segments of perianth nearly equal, free, or connate in a tube below. 
Filaments more or less connate; anthers emarginate at the base. Style 
mostly short, its branches filiform, involute, stigmatiferous at the apex, 
alternate with the stamens. Capsule thin, obovate-clavate. Seeds many, 
subglobose or angular, with a hard coriaceous testa and obsolete rhaphe. 
Embryo tittle shorter than the ‘aggrorsienenes albumen. — Low herbs with 
a very short rhizome and fibrous roots. Stem compressed and 2-edged. 
Leaves radical or nearly so, narrow grass-like, linear-terete or ensiform. 
Flowers small, fugacious, umbellate, or clustered with one or more 
spathaceous bracts. 
About 50 species, all, except the present one, natives of temperate and tropical America. 
1. 8. acre, Mann, Enum. no. 479: — Glabrous, 6—15‘ high. Leaves radical, 
linear-ensiform, equitant, straight, 8—10-nerved, channelled in the lower 
two thirds. Scape simple, wencals than the leaves, naked, compressed, 
be ed, the pedicels slender, */s—1’, 
supported by a lanceolate ssi bract of less than half its own 
length, the two outermost bracts om and spathe-like, about as long 
as the pedicels. Perianth deeply 6-parted, 4—5” long, yellow, very 
fugacious, the lobes ovate, obtuse, 5—7-nerved. Stamens #/2 or */s the 
