HOLOTHRIX 



HOMOGYNE 



1499 



HOLOTHRIX (from the Greek for whole and hair; 

 in reference to the st. being covered with hairs). 

 Orchidacese. A group of 50-60 species of terrestrial 

 orchids from S. Afr. and Madagascar. Lvs. 1 or 2, ses- 

 sile, ovate or orbicular-reniform, radical: scapes slen- 

 der, usually hairy and without sheaths; fls. small, in 

 slender, usually secund spikes; sepals conniyent, some- 

 times hairy; petals smaller and longer, entire or vari- 

 ously divided at the apex ; lip erect or spreading, adnate 

 to the base of the column; column very short, usually 

 auricled at the sides of the stigma: caps, ovoid or 

 oblong. These plants require the temperature of a 

 warm greenhouse and thrive in a mixture of peat, 

 sphagnum and charcoal. H. vittosa, Lindl. Lvs. round, 

 fleshy, hairy, borne close to the surface of the soil: 

 infl. about 9 in. high; fls. about 30, small, yellowish 

 green, slightly fragrant. S. Afr. 



HOMALANTHUS (Greek homalos, like, and anthos, 

 flower). Euphorbiacese. Tropical trees, sometimes cul- 

 tivated in warmer regions or in greenhouses for the 

 foliage. 



Juice milky: Ivs. simple, alternate, petioled, entire, 

 glabrous, usually triangular-ovate : fls. apetalous, incon- 

 spicuous, in terminal racemes, the pistillate at the base; 

 staminate calyx of 1-2 sepals, stamens 5-50: ovules 

 1 in each of the 2-3 cells. Nineteen species distributed 

 from S. E. Asia and Pacific islands to Austral. Related 

 to Sapium and Stillingia. Some species closely resemble 

 species of Sapium in foliage and habit. Sometimes 

 spelled Omalanthus. The cult, and propagation are 

 about the same as for the tree-like euphorbias. 



populifolius, Graham (Carumbium populifdlium, 

 Benth.) QUEENSLAND POPLAR. Lvs. 2-1 or more in. 

 long and as wide, slender petioled, glaucous, copper- 

 colored when young, rarely subpeltate: racemes slen- 

 der, 3-4 in. long; sepals of staminate fls. 2; stamens 

 5-6; stigmas without glands. Austral. B.M. 2780. 



H. populneus, Pax=H. Leschenaultianus, Juss., of Malay region, 

 sometimes confused with H. populifolius but separated by Pax on 

 the glandular stigmas, may be in cult.; as also the following: H. 

 fatudsus, Vill. Lvs. peltate. Gt. 15:504. H, giganteus, Zoll. 

 Monosepalous, stamens 10-20. H. polydndrus, Cheesem. Mono- 

 sepalous, stamens 40-50. j g g NoRTON- 



HOMALOMENA (Greek, variously explained). Also 

 written Homalonema. Aracese. Tender foliage plants, 

 variegated after the fashion of the well-known dieffen- 

 bachias, and the rarer aglaonema and schismatoglottis. 



Robust herbs, with a thick rhizome: st. short or 

 none: Ivs. ovate- or triangular-cordate, or lanceolate, 

 nerves reaching the margin; petiole mostly long and 

 sheathing: stamens distinct: fr. included within the 

 persistent spathe; ovules anatropous, adnate to the 

 septa. About 80 species, natives of Trop. Asia and 

 Amer. It is probable that the plants seldom produce 

 fls. or fr. in cult. They are known to the trade as Cur- 

 meria, which is now regarded as a section of Homa- 

 lomena, in which the spathe has a distinct tube and the 

 Ivs. are either glabrous or pilose, while in the section 

 Euhomalomena the spathe has an indistinct tube, and 

 the Ivs. are always glabrous. For cult., see Diefferibachia. 

 Latest Monograph by Engler in Das Pflanzenreich, hft. 

 55. 1912. The species described below belong to the 

 subgenus Curmeria, with 4 other species, American; the 

 other species are Asian and of Pacific islands. 



A. Lvs. irregularly Matched. 



Wallisii, Regel (Curmeria Wdllisii, Mast.). Fig. 

 1847. Lvs. glabrous throughout, the base obtuse or 

 acute, not notched; petiole 1J^ in. long; blade 5 in. 

 long, 2-2 H in. wide. Colombia. G.C. II. 7:108. B.M. 

 6571 (midrib outlined in light color). I.H. 25:303. 

 R.H. 1878, p. 193. The blotches are pale yellowish 

 green, becoming greenish gray. None of these pictures 

 shows a white-bordered If. with golden blotches, as one 

 dealer advertises. 



AA. Lvs. with midrib bordered with white. 



picturata, Regel (Curmeria picturdta, Lind. & 

 Andre). Lvs. with petiole and midrib pilose; petiole 

 4 in. long; blade 10-12 in. long, 8 in. wide. Colombia. 

 I.H. 20:121. Blotched only near the midrib. 



WILHELM MILLER. 



HOMERIA (said to be from homereo, alluding to the 

 meeting or joining of the filaments). Iridacese. Half- 

 hardy bulbs that can be set out in spring, and bear 

 orange-colored or red flowers in summer. 



It is an endemic Cape genus of about 6 species: 

 st. erect from a tunicated corm, producing 1 or more 



1847. Homalomena Wallisii. 



peduncles above: developed If. usually 1, linear, sur- 

 passing the st. : fls. in one or few clusters, successive and 

 fugaceous; perianth funnelform, very deeply cut, the 

 segms. narrow and nearly equal or sometimes the 3 

 inner ones narrower; stamens united by their filaments 

 into a column: fr. a clavate caps. Homeria is allied to 

 Sparaxis, requires the same cult., and the bulbs are 

 dormant from Aug. to Nov. It belongs to the Moraea 

 tribe, in which the fls. are stalked and more than 1 to 

 a spathe, and the style-branches placed opposite the 

 stamens. It differs from Iris and Morsea in having 

 style-branches furnished with terminal stigmas not 

 overtopping the anthers. Nearer allies of garden value 

 are Tigridia, Herbertia and Ferraria, from all of which 

 it differs in the 2 petaloid stigmatose crests at the ends 

 of the style-branches. 



collina, Vent. (Morsea cottkna, Thunb.). Corm glo- 

 bose, %-l in. diam.: If. linear, rigid, lH>-2 ft. long, 

 overtopping the fls.: st. bearing \-k clusters of fls.; 

 perianth-limb \ l /i~l l A in. long, typically bright red, 

 as in B.M. 1033; G.C. III. 4:163; 50:476. Var. auran- 

 tiaca, Baker, has a slenderer habit and yellow-clawed, 

 bright red segms. which are narrower and more acute 

 than the type. B.M. 1612. Var. ochroleuca, Baker, has 

 the habit of the type and pale yellow fls. B.M. 1103. 



The other species of Homeria are as follows: H. elegans, Sweet. 

 Outer segms. tawny, the others or sometimes all 6 yellow, the 3 

 outer with large green or yellow-brown blotch in middle. H. 

 line&ta, Sweet. Fls. copper-red, with small yellow-dotted blotch 

 at base inside.//, macul&ta, Klatt. Fls. yellow, the segms. with a 

 greenish claw and greenish blotch above the base. H. mineata, 

 Sweet. Fls. tawny or fulvous-red throughout. H. pdllida, Baker. 

 Fls. pale yellow. L H B 



HOMOCfiLTIS: Aphananthe. 



HOMOGYNE (from homos, similar, and gyne, female, 

 because of similarity of male and female fls.). Com- 

 posite. A small and little-known group of hardy 

 perennials grown for their attractive white or purple 

 heads of showy flowers. 



Leaves more or less white-woolly, radical broad, 



