Sansevieria.] CL. H^MODORACE^:. (J. D. Hooker.) 271 



? CEYLON. DISTRIB. ? Tropical Africa. 



Leaves 1-1 J in. broad at the base, very thickly fleshy and hard, margins scarious. 

 Scape 1-2 ft., with distant scarious sheaths; bracts 1 in. long ; pedicels short; 

 perianth 1 in. diam. The above description accords with Baker's, and with the 

 plant figured in The Botanical Register, of which th<i origin is uncertain, but which 

 has long been cultivated as a native of Ceylon. It is stated to inhabit also Tropical 

 and South Africa ; which is more probably its native country. 



2. S. Roxburg-hiana, Sc.hult.fil. Syst. vii. 357; leaves 1-2 ft. nar- 

 rowly linear-ensiform narrowed towards the bise setniterete channelled 

 above green faintly clouded with black, scape slender, raceme elongate, 

 flowers - in. long. Kunth Enum. v. 18 ; Baker, in Jourti. Linn. Soc. xiv. 

 549. S. zeylanica, Roxb. PI. Cor. ii. 45, ^t. 184; Fl. Ind. ii. 161. ? Ekeede 

 Hort. Mai- xi. t. 42. Moorva, As. Res. iv. 271. 



COKOMANDEL COAST, Roxburgh. 



According to Roxburgh's drawing (at Kew) this is a very different species from 

 S. zeylanica, with fewer very much longer and much narrower leaves reaching 4 ft. 

 in length, 1 in. broad, narrower at the base and not nearly so deeply channelled; 

 the scape is more slender with few narrowly lanceolate sheaths, the raceme much 

 longer and the flowers smaller. Whether it is Rheede's xi. t. 42, which grows in 

 sandy places on the Malabar coast, is doubtful. Roxburgh describes it as cultivated 

 for its fibre. I suspect that it is the only species indigenous to India and is confined 

 to the Western Peninsula and Ceylon, wild or cultivated. 



Order CLI. IRIDEJE. 



Perennial herbs; rootstock various, Leaves narrow, often distichous 

 and equitant. Floivers 2-bracteate. Perianth superior, petaloid, segments 

 6-biseriate, imbricating. Stamens 3, epigynous, or adnate to the outer 

 perianth-segments ; anthers often narrow, extrorse. Ovary 3-celled ; style 

 simple ; stigmas 3, simple or petaloid or variously cleft ; ovules many, 

 2-seriate in the inner angles of the cells, anatropous. Capsule trigonous, 

 3-celled, loculicidal. Seeds many, testa thin or coriaceous ; embryo 

 immersed in the albumen, short, cylindric. Genera 57, species about 700, 

 chiefly temperate. 



Tribe I. MOILED. ( Stamens opposite to and shorter than the petaloid 

 style -arms. 



Stigmatic surface on the back of the petaloid style-arms .... 1. IRIS. 



Tribe II. SISYRINCHIE^:. Stamens alternating with the style-arms. 

 Eootstock a tunicate corm; stem 0; perianth-tube long 



slender 1. CBOCTTS. 



Rootstock creeping ; stem erect ; perianth-tube very short . 2. BELAMCANDA. 



1. IRIS, Linn. 



Rootstock bulbous or creeping. Leaves equitant, ensiform. PeriantJi- 

 tube long or short, segments large, outer (sepals) largest, stipitate, reflexed, 

 inner (petals) usually smaller, suberect or reflexed. Stamens inserted at 

 the base of the outer segments; anthers linear, basifixed. Ovary 

 3-gonous; style stout; stigmas petaloid, arching over the stamens, 2-n'd 

 and with a transverse dorsal crest, stigmatic surface a point below the 

 crest. Capsule coriaceous, 3- or 6-ribbed. Seeds flat or globose, testa 

 coriaceous or fleshy. Species about 100, North temperate regions. 



