TRITHRINAX 



TRITONIA 



3385 



glaucous, the If .-segms. 22-30, linear, free for two-thirds 

 their whole length, deeply bifid: spadix much branched, 

 with many spirally arranged fls. on its branchlets: sta- 

 mens 6. Brazil. I.H. 22:202. 



campestris, Drude & Gris. Fig. 3850. Differs from 

 T. brasiliensis in the segms. being shallowly bifid and 



3850. Trithrinax campestris. 



white-tomentose above but nearly glabrous beneath, 

 and with stouter spadix branches: plant more rigid. 

 Argentina. Said to be a striking palm. 



acanthocoma, Drude. Dwarf, stout, with many strong 

 reflexed spines, the caudex with netted sheaths: Ivs. 

 large, fan-like, cut nearly to base into about 40 narrow 

 bifid segms.: spadix branched. Brazil. Gt. 27:361. 



L. H. B.f 



TRITICUM (old Latin name for wheat). Graminese. 

 The genus as now limited comprises 2 sections, ^Egilops, 

 with 12 species of S. Eu. and Asia, one of which is 

 thought by some to be the original of the cult, wheats; 

 and Triticum proper, which includes wheats and spelts 

 themselves, that are referred by Hackel to 3 species. 

 Annual grasses with fls. in a terminal spike: spikelets 

 2-5-fld., placed flat-wise, singly on opposite sides of a 

 zigzag rachis; glumes ovate, 3- to many-nerved, these 

 and the lemmas more or less awned: gram free. The 

 common wheat is T. aestivum, Linn. (T. sotlvum, Lam. 

 T. vulgare, ViH.). (For account of a wild species of 

 Syria, the probable ancestor of wheat, see Aaronsohn, 

 Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 56:237). T. Richardsonii, 

 Trin. Under the name Cryptopyrum Richardsonii, 

 Schrad., this species has sometimes been catalogued by 

 seedsmen as an ornamental plant. It is a perennial 

 with a slender nodding spike of awned spikelets. The 

 species properly belongs in Agropyron (A. Richard- 

 sonii, Schrad.) and resembles the wild A. caninum, 

 Linn., with which some authors unite it. It is native 

 from Que. across the continent. ^.. g f HITCHCOCK. 



TRITOMA: Kniphofia, 



TRITONIA (name explained as follows by Ker- 

 Gawler, its author: "Name derived from Triton, in 

 the signification of a vane or weathercock; in allusion to 

 the variable direction in the stamens of the different 

 species"). Including Montbretia. Iridacese. BLAZING 

 STAR. Showy-flowered conn-bearing herbs used both 

 as greenhouse and summer-blooming subjects. 



Conns or bulbs small, covered with fibrose sheaths or 

 tunics: sts. simple or slightly branched: Ivs. few, narrow- 

 linear or broader and sword-shaped, usually falcate: 

 spathes disposed along the rachis or the few branches, 



short, membranaceous, often 3-toothed: fls. 1 to a 

 spathe, sessile; perianth-tube slender, limb concave or 

 broadly campanulate, lobes obovate or oblong, nearly 

 equal; ovary 3-celled: caps, membranaceous, ovoid or 

 oblong. About 50 species, S. Afr. Allied to Crocosmia, 

 Acidanthera, Sparaxis, and Gladiolus. Few of them are 

 in general cult., although many of the species have been 

 intro. at one tune or another. Those of the Montbretia 

 class are showy hardy summer-flowering bulbs, to be 

 handled like gladioli; or they may be left in the ground 

 permanently if given protection of mulch in cold cli- 

 mates. As far north as N. Y. and Mass., however, they 

 are usually best wintered hi damp (not wet) earth 

 indoors. The best-known lands are T. crocosmseflora and 

 T. Pottsii. Most of the Latin names in catalogues 

 belong to these, as sulphured, tigridia, pyramidalis, 

 grandiflara, elegans, floribunda. To gardeners, tritonias 

 are usually known as montbretias. Garden tritonias 

 grow 1 ft. or more tall, producing several to many 

 showy fls. of a yellow, orange, or red color, and bearing 

 several stiffish linear or sword-shaped Ivs. 



A. Three lower perianth-segms. bearing hatchet-shaped 



processes. 



bracte^ta, Worsley. True Ivs. about 3, appearing 

 after flowering, about 1 ft. high and Y<$n.. broad; the 

 early Ivs. are really bracts: scape about 1 ft. high, 

 flexuous, much branched: fls. 30-40, tawny red, scent- 

 less, opening singly or in 2's, subtended by the large 

 foliose bracts, irregular in shape, about 1 in. across; 

 outer segms. about M m - broad, inner segms. about }^in. 

 broad and recurved. S. Afr. 



AA. Three lower perianth-segms. without hatchet-shaped 



processes. 

 B. Fls. hooded. 



Clusiana, Worsley. Allied to T. securigera, from 

 which it differs in having Ivs. twice as long and wide, no 

 obtuse or other in- 

 dentation on the 

 outer spathe-valves : 

 plant about 1 ft. 

 high: fls. orange (?), 

 hooded, all facing 

 one way. S. Afr. 

 This species with 

 hooded fls. seems 

 to form a link be- 

 tween Tritonia and 

 Antholyza. 



BB. Fls. not hooded. 



c. Perianth-segms. 



obovate. 



crocata, Ker- 

 Gawl. Slender, sun- 

 pie or branched 

 from near the base, 

 bearing few fls. in 

 loose 1- sided ra- 

 cemes: fls. about 2 

 in. across, tawny 

 yellow or orange- 

 red, the stamens 

 one-third the length 

 of the perianth- 

 limb. Cape Colony. 

 B.M. 184 (as Ixia 

 crocata). Gn. 54: 

 82. Var. miniata, 

 Baker (T. miniata, 

 Ker-Gawl.), has 

 light red fls. B.M. 

 609. There are color 

 varieties, as purptl- 

 rea, Hort., coccin- 3851. Tritonia PottsU. 



