WYL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



WYL 



815 



cylindrical, terminal, erect, two or three inches long, of nu- 

 merous sessile, white flowers ; bulb ovate ; stem solitary, 

 simple, leafy, from three to five inches high, zigzag, tapering, 

 and pale, in the part which is below the surface of the 

 ground ; leaves three or four, alternate, widely spreading or 

 recurved, much lonser than the stem, but not elevated above 

 it, tapering, channelled, rather glaucous, smooth, their base 

 dilated and sheathing. Native of the Cape. 



3. Wurmbea Purpurea; Purple Wurmbea. Tube of the 

 corolla much shorter than the widely spreading border. This 

 resembles the preceding species in its herbage ; but the spike 

 is rather more lax, and the flowers all over of a dark violet 

 purple, except the yellow antherse, having a siuch shorter 

 tube and longer border. Native of the Cape. 



4. Wurmbea Longiflora ; Lour] -flowered Wurmbea. Spike 

 taller than the leaves, three or four inches long, rather lax, 

 many-flowered, with a zigzag angular stalk ; tube of the 

 corolla twice the length of the border ; flowers entirely white, 

 their tube nearly an inch long; border widely spreading; 

 stamina full half the length of the border. This is a larger 

 and taller plant than the preceding, and its leaves are much 

 broader at the base. Found upon the sandy hills in various 

 places about the Cape. 



Wylia ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. General Involucrum : of one ovate- 

 lanceolate, membranous, half-clasping leaf, fringed with hairs ; 

 partial of five ovate, nearly entire, concave, two or three 

 ribbed leaves, bordered with a pellucid, fringed membrane. 

 Perianth : of five minute teeth, permanent. Corolla: univer- 

 sal irregular; flowers of the disk perfect, fertile, as well as the 

 female ones, which form the radius; some male flowers are 

 either interspersed in the disk, or disposed in separate um- 

 bels ; partial of five petals, unequal in the flowers of the 

 radius, the outermost very large, either obovate and flattened, 

 or inversely heart-shaped, with a long claw ; equal in those 

 of the disk. Stamina : filamenta five, thread-shaped, at first 

 inflexed, and concealed in the hollows of the petals, afterwards 

 prominent; antheree roundish. Pistil: gernien ovate-ob- 

 long, more or less tapering : styles erect, thread-shaped, 

 nearly equal, standing on a cup-shaped base ; stigmas simple. 

 Pericarp: fruit linear-oblong, beaked, somewhat compress- 

 ed, crowned with the erect, permanent styles, and their 

 cup-like slightly notched basis. Seeds : two, linear-oblong, 

 hispid, striated ; the ribs elevated, continued into the beak 

 with intermediate furrows; valves of the beak parallel to the 

 fruit. Observe. The involucral leaves in this genus, though 

 not laciniated, have a notch or two at the end, and precisely 



agree with those of Scandix in texture. Many of the umbels 

 are simple, or occasionally two or three together, resembling 

 a compound umbel. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. General 

 and partial involucral leaves ovate. Flowers : polygamous, 

 radiant. Calix : five-toothed. Fruit: oblong, somewhat 

 compressed, beaked ; valves of the beak parallel to the fruit 

 The species are, 



1. Wylia Australis; Southern Wylia. Umbels simple, 

 or in pairs, of few flowers ; they are small and dense, on 

 long stalks ; the lower ones opposite to the leaves, solitary ; 

 the upper in pairs, or rarely three together, and even then 

 not constituting a really compound umbel : flowers white, 

 moderately radiant; radiant petals obovate, nearly entire ; 

 the largest petals sometimes slightly emarginate ; fruits from 

 six to ten, perfected in each umbel, their beaks nearly or 

 quite straight, quadrangular, rough with short erect bristles. 

 Root annual; herb slender; stem round, sometimes quite 

 smooth, sometimes more or less hairy; leaves triply pinnate, 

 with linear acute segments, and hairy or rather fringed toot- 

 stalks. Native of fields in Italy and the Levant, and in 

 Taura ; flowering in May. 



2. Wylia Radians ; Radiating Wylia. Umbels aggregate, 

 from two to five, many-flowered ; radiant petals elongated, 

 wavy ; beak of the fruit incurved. This is supposed to be 

 equally related to the first and third species; but the flowers 

 are more conspicuously radiant. Found in Tauria ; flower- 

 ing in May. 



3. Wylia Grandiflora; Large-flowered Wylia. General 

 umbels of from three to five very hairy rays. Root annual, 

 tapering; stem about a foot high, round, purplish, slightly 

 branched; umbels terminal; the general ones sometimes on 

 short stalks, with a leafy, simple, or divided, linear leaf, in 

 th place of a general involucrum; partial umbels of numer- 

 ous short smooth rays ; their involucrum of several, mostly 

 double-pointed, ovate, white-edged, fringed leaves; flowers 

 remarkably radiant; their largest petals obovate, not always 

 emarginate, each furnished with a long claw ; beak of the 

 fruit rather scaly. Native of Tartary and Georgia. 



4. Wylia Iberica; Georgian Wylia. General umbels of 

 four or five very smooth rays; radiant petals emarginate, 

 with an iiiflexed point : the rays of both general and partial 

 umbels appear to be always very smooth ; the radiant petals 

 are of a smaller proportion, and essentially distinguished by 

 their sharp inflexed points. Stem somewhat hairy at one 

 side : annual. Very nearly related to the last species in habit 

 and size ; and the stem, as in that, sometimes quite smooth. 

 Native of Georgia. 



X AN 



XANTHE: a genus of the class Direcia, order Mon- 

 adelphia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix : perianth 

 of one leaf, in five or six small, deep, imbricated, roundish, 

 concave, acute segments, with a pair of minute opposite 

 scales at the base. Corolla: petals five, roundish, spreading, 

 larger than the calix. Stamina: filamentum one, columnar, 

 erect; antherae five, two-lobed, forming a peltate concave 

 disk, full of gluten, their under side bursting and discharging 

 the pollen. Female. Calix: like that of the male, perma- 

 nent, inferior. Corolla : as in the male. Stamina : filamentum 

 none; antherse five, prismatic, erect, imperfect. Pistil: 

 germen superior, .roundish, with five furrows; style none; 

 stigmas five, roundish, thick, emarginate, seated on the 

 germen. Pericarp ; capsule small, globose or oval, with 

 VOL. ii. 134. 



X AN 



five furrows, five cells, and five valves, bursting at the fur- 

 rows ; their membranous partitions adhering to the central 

 column. Seeds: numerous, oblong, imbedded in the pulp, 

 inserted in a double row upon the five-angled columnar 

 receptacle. Observe. One-fifth is frequently added to the 

 parts of fructification, in the male as well as female flowers. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix: in five deep seg- 

 ments. Petals : five. Filamentum : columnar. Antheree: five, 

 two-lobed, forming a peltate disk. Female. Calix and Co- 

 rolla : as in the male. Stigmas : five, sessile. Capsule : of five 



cells, with many pulpy seeds. The species are, 



1. Xanthe Scandens ; Twining Xanthe. Leaves obovate, 

 fleshy; opposite, on short stalks, simple, entire, thick, and 

 smooth, three or four inches long, with a thick midrib, and a 

 9X 



