472 MELANTHACEJE. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



1. Y. filameiitcsa, L. (ADAM'S NEEDLE.) Stemlcss, i. c. the tram 



(from a running rootstock) rising for a foot or less above the earth, covered with 

 the lanceolate warmed coriaceous leaves (l-2 long), which beur jilaments on their 

 maryins ; scape or llower-stcin - 8 high, erect. Sandy soil, E. Virginia and 

 southward. July. 



Y. GLORi6sA, L., and Y. ALOIF6LIA, L. (SPANISH BAYONET), which are 

 caulescent and thick-leaved species, belong farther south, and probably are not 

 indigenous north of the coast of North Carolina. 



The TULIP, the CROWN IMPERIAL, the HYACINTH, and the TUBEROSE 

 (POLIANTHES TUBEROSA) are common cultivated representatives of this 

 Family. 



ORDER 127. MELANTHACE^E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with regular Q-merous and 6-androus flowers, the consimilar peri- 

 anth free (or nearly free) from the 3-celled ovary, extrorse anthers, and 3 

 more or less distinct styles. (Anthers introrse in Tofieldia, a connecting 

 link with JuneaceaB. Styles sometimes perfectly united in Uvulariese.) 

 Seeds anatropous, with a soft or membranous seed-coat, and a small embryo 

 in copious albumen. If we include the Bell worts, which form a group 

 ambiguous between this order, Trilliaceae, and Liliaceee, (all of which are 

 connected by various gradations,) we shall have two strongly marked sub- 

 orders, viz. : 



SUBORDER I. UVULARIEJ3. THE BELLWORT FAMILY. 



Perianth early deciduous, the sepals distinct, petal-like. Styles united 

 into one at the base or throughout ! Fruit a 3-celled few-seeded berry or 

 loculicidal pod. Stems from small perennial rootstocks and fibrous roots, 

 forking, bearing ovate or lanceolate membranaceous sessile or clasping 

 leaves, like those of Solomon's Seal, and perfect flowers : peduncles solitary 

 or 1-nowered. 



1. UVULARIA. Pod 3-angular or 3-lobed. Anthers linear, adnate, on short filaments. 



2. PllOSARTES. Berry 3-6-seeded. Anthers linear-oblong, pointless, fixed near the base. 



Flowers terminal. 



3. STREPTOPUS. Berry several-seeded. Anthers arrow-shaped, 1 - 2-pointed. Flowers ax- 



illary ; their pedicels bent in the middle. 



SUBORDER II. MELANTHIE-32. TRUE COLCHICUM FAMILY. 



Perianth mostly persistent or withering away ; the sepals distinct, or 

 rarely their claws united. Styles 3, separate. Fruit a 3-cclIed 3-partible 

 or septicidal, rarelv loculiridal, pod. Herbs with acrid poisonous proper- 

 ties ; the simple or rarely panicled stems springing from solid bulbs or 

 corms, or sometimes from creeping rootstocks. Flowers M>inctimi-s polyga- 

 mous or dioecious. 



