Astelia.] LILIACEAE. — 443 
About 35 species, natives of India and ig Africa with adjacent islands, the following 
bine the only one known from Polyn 
. D. aurea, a Enum. no. 489. — A glabrous tree, 20—25 ft. high, 
a soft whitish mitting saat above ground, freely branching, 
the branches suber we and renee ridged by transverse leaf- scars. Leaves 
sessile, linear-ensiform with entire margins, about 2 ft. hes and 6—8” 
z 
broad at the base and middle, gradually drawn out i a spinescent 
point, coriaceous, epee striate et midrib. eet ers racemose on 
a terminal recu panicle of about n length, with a woody rhachis 
and foliaceous gaat single or 2 or i Ce on slender gener of 
6—8“, which are jointed some distance below the perianth an 
2 linear flaccid bracts of less than half their length. Perianth sabia. 
2‘ long and 3“ wide, suberect, divided to one third into fees: lanceolate 
erect lobes, pale- or golden-yellow, persistent. Stamens inserted at the 
base of the lobes and of the same length as these, the filaments flat 
subulate, the versatile anthers uae ree shortly exserted, stigma 
entire, sridcukt Berry globose, trisulc —8" in diameter, yellow, with 
a chartaceous endocarp. Seed g Score fie globose. Embryo minute, 
mile, near the base of horny a fa — Wawra, in Flora, 1875, fh 244, 
llislands, at altitudes of 1000—2500 ft., as in Nuuanu, Oa 
‘the at. The iHalanepee of the natives, who used to carve their idols yee fs ihe por 
wood. 
4. ASTELIA, Banks & Sol. 
Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Perianth withering-persistent, the 6 seg- 
ments connate at the base in a small tube, spreading. Stamens 6, inserted 
parietal or apical, abortive in the male y. Style none or 
very short; stigmas 3, obtuse. Berry subglobose, trisulcate Seeds ovoid 
ngular, with a black crustaceous testa. — Herbs of the habit of 
ensiform, carinate, generally squamaceo-villous on both faces, or under- 
neath sie and woctte at the base. Flowers generally silky, racemose 
on the branches of a dense terminal panicle, rarely few only in the axils 
of the upper leaves. Pedicels not jointed, with a single bract at the base. 
About 9 species, spread over the Hawaiian, Society, mals am Islands, N. Zealand, 
Tasmania, Australia, the Falkland Islands and Tierra del F 
Leaves 3-nerved, villous, expanded, long; perianth silky; eh 4 
in each cell 
Sore 1-nerved, glabrous, folded, short; ‘perianth glabrous; seeds 
—3 in each c 
1. A. veratroides. 
2. A. Waialealae. 
LA. ein Gand. mn ‘Bot. Few. ie yc. p. 420, tab. 31. — Caudex 
short, sometimes creeping. Leaves linear-lanceolate, gradually running 
out into an acute point, 1'/2—4 ft. long, 1/2—3‘ broad, clasping at the 
