80 lEIDACEAE. 



nerved, acuminate at the apex, cordate at the base; petioles slender, as long as 

 the blades or somewhat shorter; staminate flowers in whorled, often panicled 

 spikes, the rachis flexuous, the perianth about 2 mm. broad, the stamens mostly 

 6; pistillate flowers distant in simple spikes; capsule elliptic, 3-winged, 1.5-2 

 cm. long. 



Spontaneous after cultivation, Andros, Eleuthera : — Jamaica ; Porto Rico ; 

 Tortola to Trinidad. Generally cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries. 

 Probably native of southeastern Asia. — Yam. 



2. RAJANIA L. Sp. PL 1032. 1753. 



Twining vines, with alternate, petioled leaves and small^ greenish, dioe- 

 cious, racemose flowers, the staminate ones commonly clustered in the racemes, 

 the pistillate solitary. Staminate flowers with a 6-cleft perianth and 6 stamens 

 with short filaments, the pistil rudimentary or none. Pistillate flowers with 6 

 distinct perianth-segments, the styles 2-cleft; staminodia minute or wanting. 

 Fruit samaroid, 1-seeded, indehiseent, the wing terminal, thin. [Commemorates 

 John Eay, 1628-1705, famous English botanist.] Ten species or more, natives 

 of the West Indies. Type species: Bajania Jiastata L. 



1. Rajania microphylla Knuth, Enum. 5: 451. 1850. 



Slender, glabrous, * of ten much-branched, 1-2 m. long or longer. Leaves 

 lanceolate to ovate in outline, 2-8 em. long, acute or acuminate and mucronate 

 at the apex, hastate or cordate at the base, the auricles rounded, the petiole 

 much shorter than the blade; staminate racemes about as long as the leaves; 

 pistillate racemes as long as the leaves or shorter; samaras oblong, obtuse, 

 thin, shining, 8-12 mm. long. 



Rocky plains, pine-lands and interior ridges, Abaco, Great Bahama, Andros, New 

 Providence, Cat Island and Great Exuma : — Cuba. Small Rajaxia. Wild YA:Nr. 

 Referred to R. ha.^tata L., by Mrs. Northrop, a species now understood to be 

 restricted to Hispaniola. 



Family 6. IRIDACEAE Lindl. 



Iris Family. 



Perennial herbs with naiTov^ equitant 2-ranked leaves and perfect, 

 mostly clustered flowers subtended by bracts. Perianth of 6 segments or 

 6-lobed, its tube adnate to the ovary, the segments or lobes in two series, 

 convolute in the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 3, inserted on the 

 13erianth opposite its outer series of segments or lobes; filaments filiform, 

 distinct or united; anthers 2-celled, extrorse. Ovary inferior, mostly 3- 

 celled; ovules mostly numerous in each cell, anatropous; style 3-cleft, its 

 branches sometimes divided. Capsule 3-celled, loculicidally dehiscent, 3- 

 angled or 3-lobed (sometimes 6-lobed), many-seeded. Endosperm fleshy or 

 horny ; embrj^o straight, small. About 57 genera and 1000 species, of wide 

 distribution. 



1. SISYRINCHIUM L. Sp. PI. 954. 1753. 



Perennial mostly tufted slender herbs with fibrous roots from contracted 

 rootstoeks, simple or branched 2-winged or 2-edged stems, and linear grass-like 

 leaves. Flowers from terminal spathes consisting of mostly one pair of oppo- 

 site eonduplicate herbaceous bracts enclosing membranous scales; perianth 



