AMARYLLIDACEjE. (AMARYLLIS FAMILY.) 515 



3. BEL AM C AND A, Adans. BLACKBERRY-LILY. 



Perianth 6-parted almost to the ovary; the divisions widely and equally 

 spreading, all nearly alike, oblong with a narrowed base, naked. Stamens 

 monadelphous only at base ; anthers oblong. Style club-shaped, 3-cleft, the 

 narrow divisions tipped with a small dilated stigma. Capsule pear-shaped ; 

 the valves at length falling away, leaving the central column covered with 

 the globose black and fleshy-coated seeds, imitating a blackberry (whence the 

 popular name). Perennial, with rootstocks, foliage, etc., of an Iris; the 

 branching stems (3-4 high) loosely many-flowered; the orange-yellow peri- 

 anth mottled above with crimson-purple spots. (An East Indian name of 

 the species.) 



B. CmxENSis, Allans. (Pardauthus Chiueusis, Ker.) Sparingly escaped 

 from gardens, Md. to S. Ind. and Mo. (Adv. from China, etc.) 



4. SISYRINCHIUM, L. BLUE-EYED GRASS. 



Perianth 6-parted ; the divisions alike, spreading. Stamens monadelphous 

 to the top. Stigmas thread-like. Capsule globular, 3-angled. Seeds globular. 

 Low slender perennials, with fibrous roots, grassy or lanceolate leaves, mostly 

 branching 2-edged or winged stems, and fugacious umbelled-clustered small 

 flowers from a 2-leaved spathe. (A meaningless name, of Greek origin.) 



1. S. angUStifolium, Mill. Scape (4-12' high) Avinged or wingless, 

 simple, the spathe solitary and terminal, its outer bract more or less elongated ; 

 flowers delicate blue, changing to purplish (rarely white), the divisions of the 

 perianth more or less notched, bristle-pointed and ciliate ; mature seeds globose, 

 larye (" broad), faintly pitted or nearly smooth. (S. Bermudiana, var. mu- 

 cronatum, Gray, excl. descr.) Moist meadows, etc., among grass ; common 

 everywhere. June - Aug. 



2. S. &nceps, Cav. Scape (6-18' high) usually branching and bearing 

 2 or more peduncled spathes; seeds more ovate, much smaller, deeply pitted. 

 (S. Bermudiana, var. anceps, Gray, excl. descr.) Similar localities ; common. 



ORDER 114. AMARYLLIDACE^E. (AMARYLLIS FAMILY.) 



Chiefly bulbous and scape-bearing herbs, not scurfy or woolly, icith linear 

 flat root-leaves, and regular {or nearly so) and perfect 6-androus flowers, 

 the tube of the coralline 6-parted perianth coherent icith the 3-celled ovary ; 

 the lobes imbricated in the bud. Anthers introrse. Style single. Cap- 

 sule 3-celled, several - many-seeded. Seeds anatropous or nearly so, with 

 a straight embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen. An order represented 

 in our gardens by the Narcissus, Daffodil, Snowdrop, etc., but with very 

 few indigenous representatives in this country. Bulbs acrid. Differs 

 from Liliacea? chiefly in the inferior ovary. 



* Capsule 3-valved, loculicidal ; anthers versatile ; perianth funnel-shaped ; glabrous. 



1. Zepliyranthes. Flower naked in the throat ; the tube short or none. Bulbs coated. 



2. Hymenocallis. Flower with a slender tube and narrow recurved lobes ; a cup-shaped 



crown connecting the stamens. Bulbs coated. 



3. Agave. Flower equally 6-cleft, persistent, no crown. Fleshy-leaved, not bulbous. 



* * Capsule indehiscent ; anthers sagittate ; villous. 



4. Hypoxis. Perianth 6-parted nearly down to the ovary, persistent. Bulb solid. 



