532 TOFIELDIA. [CLASS vi. ORDER in. 



But in all things we may recognise an all-wise Providence; thus 

 in the instance before us, wet districts produce the Triglochius, which 

 always abounds in those stimulating saline qualities to supply the 

 deficency in other plants which grow in the same places, thus ren- 

 dering that which otherwise is unwholesome and unprofitable, useful 

 and valuable. But in the cultivation of the land, as in other things, 

 we are apt to overlook the provisions of nature, and to outstep the 

 bounds which she has provided, and as we depart from her ways so 

 we shall find our errors. 



GENUS XXVI. TOFIELD'IA. HCDS. Scottish 



Asphodel. 

 Nat. Ord. MELANTHA'CEJE. R. BROWN. 



GEN. CHAR. Perianth of six deciduous pieces, with minute bracteas 

 at the base of the peduncle. Stamens smooth. Capsules three 

 to six, united below the middle, many seeded. Seeds roundish, 

 oblong. Name in honour of Mr. Tofield, an English Botanist. 



1. T. palus'tris, Huds. (Fig. 609.) Scottish Asphodel. Spike ovate ; 

 stem slender, leafy at the base; segments of the perianth obovate, 

 obtuse; germen three lobed; braclea small, enveloping the base of 

 the peduncle, three-cleft ; leaves linear, sword-shaped, roughish on the 

 margins, many ribbed. 



English Botany, t. 536. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 198. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 173. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 264. T. calyculala, 

 Wahlenberg. Helv. p. 68. Anthericum calyculatum, Linn. sp. 447. 

 A. Bendoasphodelus, Jacq.' Hclonias borealis, Willd. sp. pi. v. 2. 274. 



Soot of long slender branched fibres. Leaves numerous, almost all 

 radical, fasciculated, linear, sword-shaped, about an inch long, atte- 

 nuated into an acute point, mostly rough on the margins towards the 

 point, with minute rigid bristles pointed forwards, many ribbed at the 

 base, but mostly only three in the upper half. Stem erect, slender, 

 almost thread-shaped, round, smooth, erect, from two to four inches 

 high, simple, bearing two or three leaves, which envelope it at the 

 base, and terminating in an ovate spike of greenish yellow flowers, 

 dense when in flower, becoming lax in fruit, and each flower elevated 

 on a short peduncle, having at its base a minute membranous bractea, 

 which surrounds it, and is cleft into three angular teeth. Perianth of 

 six pieces, the three outer ones rather shorter and narrower than the 

 three inner obovate obtuse ones. Stamens inserted opposite the seg- 

 ments of the perianth, with smooth awl-shaped filaments, as long as 

 the perianth, bearing roundish heart-shaped anthers. Styles short on 

 the point of the three-cleft three celled ovarium, terminating in an 

 obtuse stigma. Fruit a three-cleft three-celled capsule, spreading 



