430 Key to the System of 



1842. Petals dark-colored. 



Leaves narrow- or channelled-filiform, streaked beneath ; 

 flowering stem slender and often short ; flowers in a 

 panicle or in a somewhat branched raceme ; bracts all 

 very small; fruit quite small, depressed-globular, smooth. 



X. micrantha. 



Petals yellow. 



Leaves very narrow, channelled or nearly flat, seldom 

 somewhat filiform ; flowering stem slender and often 

 short ; flowers in a panicle or in a somewhat branched 

 raceme ; stalklets usually conspicuous, recurved ; sepals 

 membranous, blunt, shining, pale at the margin, brownish 

 towards the summit ; petals without lustre, slightly 

 succulent, nearly disconnected ; fruit generally ovate- 

 globular, smooth. X. Thuiibergi. 



XANTHORRXXOEA. 



1843. Tufty, comparatively dwarf, constantly trunkless, 

 the spike rather thin and always short. 



Leaves rather long, often somewhat channelled, the carinular 

 angle very prominent ; spikes shorter than their slender 

 bractless stalks, generally several or many from each 

 plant; floral bracts from cuneate- to filiform-linear, 

 glabrous, enclosed ; sepals short, hard, greenish, narrow, 

 wider upwards ; petals quite glabrous or at the summit 

 slightly beset with hairlets, hardly longer than the sepals 

 and thinner, dilated and whitish towards the upper end ; 

 stamens about half exserted ; filaments white ; style 

 thin ; stigma undivided ; fruit somewhat exserted, short- 

 pointed ; seeds black outside. X. minor. 



Comparatively tall, the trunk almost undeveloped or 

 oftener conspicuously elongated, the spike rather 

 thick and usually very long. 



Trunk occasionally divided ; leaves very long, slightly 

 angular or flattened above, prominently angular beneath ; 

 spikes usually longer than their robust bractless stalks, 

 generally one only from each tuft of leaves ; sepals 

 hard, pointed, glabrous ; petals hardly longer than the 

 sepals but thinner, whitish upwards and slightly beset 

 with hairlets towards the summit ; stamens usually less 

 than half exserted ; filaments white ; fruit hardly 

 emerged ; seeds trigonous-ovate, black outside. 



X. Aus trails. 



