IIVPDXIS FRECTA. STAR-(.RASS. Rj 



All the mcml^crs of the genus Hypoxh have yellow flowers, and 

 there are numerous rejjresentatives in the i;reat home of the 

 genus in Southern Africa, while there are i)robabl\' but two 

 good species in the United States. The relation of our i)lant 

 with so many others in that distant })art of the world is an 

 interesting fact for those who may be engaged in the study of 

 botanical geography. 



We have seen that modern botanists have separated the genus 

 Hypoxis from its original relations in the order Liliacccc. l>ut 

 some investigators have gone even further than this, and have 

 thought it necessary to place the genus in a separate order, of 

 which they have made it the type. While most of our American 

 botanists place it in the order of Amaryllidaccce, Dr. Lindley, in 

 his " Vegetable Kingdom," classes it as Hypoxidacco' ; but Dr. 

 Lindley himself notes that there is little, beyond the general 

 habit of the plants, to distinguish this order from the order of 

 Amaryllidaceo', this little being that the radicle or growing- 

 point in the seeds of Hypoxidacecp is near the hilum, that is to 

 say, near the place where the seed is connected with its parent; 

 while in the AuiaryllidacecB, as he views them, the radicle is on 

 the opposite side. 



The reader has noted that the tapering base of the capsule 

 suggested the name of the genus, but the opportunity of exam- 

 ining this capsule seems to be rather rare. The writer of this 

 never saw a perfect one till August, 1878, and the specimen 

 then found is given in our plate (I'ig. 2). It is very small, and 

 wholly enveloped by the persistent sepals, but on being opened 

 it will be found to contain the little black seeds. Dr. Darling- 

 ton seems to have had a similar experience to that of the writer 

 of this, without his final good fortune, for in his " Flora Ces- 

 trica," or Flora of Chester County, Pennsylvania, he says: "1 

 think this plant rarely perfects its fruit. Common as it is, and 

 familiar as I ha\e been with it for half a century, I ha\e never 

 observed a full-grown capsule." It may be that the })lant, hav- 

 ing perhaps wandered a long way from its original central home, 



