396 CXXXIII. LlLIACEiE. 



8. WHITEHEADIA, Harv. 



Perianth persistent, ^Yith. a short, wide tube, partly adnate 

 to the base of the ovary ; limb 6-parted, stellately patent ; 

 segments oblong, flat, delicately membranous, 3-5-nerved and 

 veiny. Stamens in the throat, their membrane- dilated fila- 

 ments united in a coronal ring, quite free from the segments 

 of perianth. Ovary sharply 3-angled, 3-celled ; ovules many ; 

 style continuous with the ovary, subulate, recurved ; stigma 

 simple. Capsule obovate, crowned with the hooked style, 

 membranous and veiny, broadly 3-winged. Seeds numerous, 

 black. 



W. latifolia, Harv., is a remarkable bulbous-rooted plant, discovered at 

 Modderfontein, Naniaqualand, by tlie Eev. Henry Whitehead, to whom I 

 am indebted for many curious plants, and in honour of whom I name this 

 genus. The leaves (probably 2 ?) are nearly orbicular, 8-10 inches long 

 and wide, many-nerved, and probably lie fiat on the ground, like those of a 

 Massonia. The scape is 5-6 inches liigh, and clothed throughout with 

 closely placed, imbricating, broadly-ovate and cucuUate, taper-pointed 

 bracts, within each of wliich is concealed a subsessile flow^er ; the upper- 

 most bracts being empty, as in Eucomis ; the points of the bracts are re- 

 flexed. Though nearly related to Eucomis in floral structure, the habit is 

 very peculiar, and the differences above indicated in the stamens and cap- 

 sule, and the hooked style seem sufficiently distinctive. 



9. EUCOMIS, L'Her. 



Perianth 6-parted, regular, persistent ; tube short, furnished 

 within towards the middle with a papillose or tumid ring ; 

 segments oblong, inflexed-cucullate at the apex, 1-nerved, 

 equal, spreading. Stamens in the throat, subequal, adnate at 

 base to the lobes of the perianth ; filaments membrano-dilated 

 and slightly connate at base. Ovary sessile, ovate or obovate ; 

 ovules many or few ; style filiform, erect, equalling the sta- 

 mens ; stigma depressed-capitate, minute. Capsule coriaceous, 

 3-angled. Seeds few, black. — Kunth, I. c. p. 301. 



Bulbous, scapigerous plants. Leaves broadly lanceolate or oblong, nerve- 

 striate, thickish. Scape rather tall ; raceme densely many-flowered, bearing 

 a crown of leaves at its summit. Flowers greenish or whitish. — 6 species. 



10 ? SCILLA, Linn. 



Perianth 6-parted, regular, urceolate or campanulate, deci- 

 duous, sometimes persistent; sepals subconnate at base, 1- 

 nerved, equal, reflexed at tip. Stamens 6, shorter than the 

 perianth ; filaments flattened, wider or narrower, more or less 

 adnate to the sepals at base. Ovary sessile, rarely very shortly 

 stipitate, 3-angled ; ovules 2-10 in each cell ; style erect. 

 Capsule membranous, ovate or roundish. Seed black or 

 blackish.— i^LWwM, I. c. p. 314 ; Lindl, Bot. Reg. t. 1355. 



