6 cxLii. XYRiDE^ (brown). [Eichomia. 



Solms in DC. Monogr. Phan. iv. 5:^.5; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. 

 Afr. V. 419. 



Wile Iiand. British East Africa : Jur ; Jur Gliattas, Schweinfurth, 2296 ! 



This plant is perfectly distinct from the Asiatic M. vaginaU.<i, Hresl, with which 

 it has been associated by Count Solms. 



Order CXLII. XYRIDEiE. (By N. E. Brown.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx inferior, irregular; sepals 3 or 

 rarely 2, the two lateral exterior, boat-shaped, keeled, glumaceous, the 

 third interior, membranous, convolute, forming a closed obtuse spathe- 

 like hood, or obtusely calyptriform, circumscissile at the base and split 

 open on one side, closely enveloping the corolla when in bud and pushed 

 off as the corolla grows out and expands, rarely absent. Corolla regular, 

 petaloid, marcescent ; tube slender, usually split into claw-like segments 

 at the base by the growth of the ovary ; lobes 3, cuneate-obovate, 

 spreading. Stamens 3, affixed at the mouth of the corolla-tube opposite 

 the lobes ; filaments short, flattened ; anthers basifixed, oblong, 2-celled, 

 cells parallel or slightly divergent at the base, contiguous, or more or 

 less separated by a broad connective, extrorse, opening by longitudinal 

 slits. Staminodia 3 or 0, alternating with the corolla-lobes at the mouth 

 of the tube, simple and entire or bifid at the apex, or divided into two 

 entire or bifid arms, glabrous or hairy, or ending in dense or lax brush- 

 like tufts of hairs, and then very short. Ovary superior, 1-celled or im- 

 perfectly 3-celled ; placentas 3, parietal or shortly united at the centre, 

 or free and erect from the base ; ovules indefinite, 2-seriate, orthotro- 

 pous ; style filiform, sometimes with tubercles or processes at or below 

 the middle, trifid or 3-armed at the apex, or entire ; stigmas dilated or 

 subcapitate, usually oblique. Capsule dividing into 3 valves between 

 the placentas. Seeds minute, ovoid, apiculate ; hilum basilar; testa 

 thin, usually ridged ; albumen copious, transparent ; embryo minute, 

 broadly depressed-conical, seated at the apex of the albumen under 

 the terminal apiculus. — Perennial or rarely annual herbs of tufted 

 habit, growing in damp or wet situations. Leaves all radical, linear, 

 terete or filiform, sheathing at the base. Peduncles erect, simple, 

 terminated by a solitary dense head or spike, leafless or bearing one or 

 more pairs of convolute sheaths, and embraced at the base by a leafless 

 or leaf -bearing sheath. Flower-heads or spikes globose, ovoid, or 

 elongate ; bracts glumaceous, somewhat rigid or thin and papery, 

 spirally imbricate one above another, or the inner all reaching to about 

 the same level, concave, complicate, or rarely somewhat convolute, the 

 lower in a few species elongated and leafy, forming an involucre. 

 Flowers solitary and sessile in the axils of the bracts, yellow, white, or 

 blue, usuall}' of small size. 



An order of 2 genera, of which only one is rejirescnted in Africa, and about 

 160 species, dispersed throughout the Tropical and Subtropical regions of the earth. 



