3522 



XANTHORRHCEA 



XANTHOSOMA 



outer but more or less protruded beyond them; sta- 

 mens 6; ovary sessile, 3-celled: caps, protruding from 

 the perianth, ovoid or acuminate, 3-valved, hard, 

 brown and shining. About 14 species, Austral. 



The "grass trees," "grass gums," or "black boys," 

 form a conspicuous feature of the Australian landscape. 

 These picturesque desert plants are well worth trial 

 in the warmer and more arid regions of the United 

 States. The trunk varies from almost nothing in some 

 species to 15 feet in the case of aged specimens of X. 

 Preissii. The tall and palm-like trunks are thickly 

 covered with the bases of the old dead leaves, which are 

 cemented together by the black or yellow resinous gum 

 that flows freely from the stems. In Australia the 

 trunks are often charred and discolored by bush fires. 

 The following species have been offered in southern 

 Florida and southern California, but are practically 

 unknown to cultivation in this country. All the species 

 are long-lived perennials native to dry and rocky 



4012. Xanthoceras sorbifolia. 



places. They are said to thrive in a compost of peat 

 and loam and to be propagated by offsets. X. Preissii 

 seems to be the most desirable species. 



A. Trunk very short. 

 B. Spike 8-8 in. long. 



minor, R. Br. Lvs. 1-2 ft. long, 1-2 lines wide: scape 

 longer than the Ivs.: spike less than %in. wide. B.M. 

 6297. Belongs to 

 the group in which 

 the inner perianth- 

 segms. have a white 

 blade conspicuously 

 spreading above the 

 outer ones, while in 

 the next two species 

 the inner segms. 

 have a short whi- 

 tish tip, little longer 

 than the outer and 

 scarcely spreading. 



BB. Spike l l A-2ft. 



long. 



hastilis, R. Br. 

 Lvs. 3-4 ft. long, 

 2-3 lines broad: 

 scape 'often 6-8 ft. 

 long, not counting 

 the spike. Readily 

 distinguished by the 

 dense, rusty tomen- 

 tum covering the 

 ends of the bracts 

 and outer perianth- 

 segms. B.M. 4722. 

 G.C. III. 17:196. 

 F.S. 9:868. G. 24: 

 612. Gn.W. 22:13. 

 R.H. 1914, p. 67. 



AA. Trunk becoming 

 6-6, or even 15 

 ft. long. 

 Preissii, Endl. 



Lvs. 2-4 ft. long, 1-2 lines broad, rigid, very brittle 

 when young: scapes 2-6 ft. long, including the spike, 

 which occupies one-half to nearly all its length. B.M. 

 6933. G.C. III. 39:228. 



undulatifolia, Tod. ex Riccobono. Trunk 8 ft. or so 

 high, 12 in. diam.: Ivs. in a large crown, 5 ft. long, 

 fragile, sword-shaped, reflexed, rhomboidal in section: 

 scape quite erect, cylindric, about 12 ft. long, with a 

 dense spike of golden yellow fls. Austral. 



F. TRACY HuBBARD.f 



XANTHOSOMA (Greek, yellow body, referring to 

 the stigma). Araceie. This group is interesting to the 

 horticulturist as containing the handsome variegated 

 stove foliage plant known to the trade as Phyllotsenium 

 Lindenii, and part of the vegetables known as yautia, 

 malanga, and tanier, a crop to which much of the arable 

 land in Porto Rico is devoted. 



Milky herbs of S. and Cent. Amer. with a thick 

 sometimes elongated corm: Ivs. arrow-shaped, 3-cut or 

 pedately cut: fls. unisexual, naked; males with 4-6 

 stamens connate in an inversely pyramidal synan- 

 drium with 5 or 6 faces; ovary 2-4-loculed; ovules 

 anatropous. A genus of 25 species, according to Engler, 

 who has given an account of them in DC. Mon. Phaner., 

 vol. 2 (1879). 



Many species of the arum family are noted for their 

 huge corms, some of which are edible after the acrid and 

 more or less poisonous properties are destroyed by cook- 

 ing. Of this class the best known are the taros (Colo- 

 casia esculenta, Schott, the common taro of southern 

 Asia and the Pacific islands, and C. antiquorum, Schott, 



4013. Fruit of Xanthoceras sorbifolia. 



