Sisyrinchiian. AMARYLLIDACE.E. 24 ^ 



wliiit pubescent as also the ovary, light iJurplc, darker below and yellow at base, 

 the segments 3-toothed or mucronate, and shortly ciliate : stamens 3 lines long, 

 the anthers very small : stigmas scarcely exserted : capsule depressed-globose or 

 obovoid, 2 or 3 lines long : seeds two thirds of a line iu diameter, obscurely 

 pitted. — Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 277. 



From San Diego to tlio Coluiiihia River, in moist pLices ; JIarch to May. It resembles 

 S. anccpn, Linn., ol' the Atlantic States, which difFers in its more slender habit, narrower leaves, 

 smaller and nsnally (glabrous flowers, and mncli smaller seeds. Sometimes it ocrnrs with only a 

 sinj,do terminnl sessile s]iatiio, in whicli lorni it resenibU-s S. MiicuoNATiiM, Mi(^hx., idso an 

 Eastern species, bnt ranging westward to beyuml the Hocky Mountains, collected in N. Nevaila 

 {fVatson) and jMobably oixuriing in N. California. It is low and slender, always with a single 

 sessile spathe, tlie long-a<-uminate lower bract nsnally exceeding the smaller flowers, the segments 

 of the i)erianth setoscly mucronate, and the capsule globose.. 



* * Filaments united on! >/ at base; anthers Unear-sagittate : scapes ivith asolitanj 



sessile spathe. 



-<- Flowers yellow : style very deeply cleft : scape l-edyed. 



2. S. Californicum, Ait. f. Scajie broadly winged, G to 15 inches high, much 

 exceeding the broad leaves (2 or 3 lines wide): outer bracts G to 15 lines long, 

 more or less unequal, the longer about ecpialling the pedicels : flowers 3 to 7, bright 

 yellow; segments 4 to G lines long, 5-7-nerved, obtuse or aciitish : anthers \\ 

 linos long, about ecpialling the lilaments : style cleft below the middle, the linear 

 branches as long as the anthers : capsule obovate-oWong, 4 lines long : seeds half a 

 line in diameter. — Ilort. Kew. iv. 135. Marica Californica, Ker, Bot. Mag. t. 

 983. S. lineatmn, Torrej^ Pacif. R. Piej>. iv. 143. S. Jlavidum, Kellogg, Proc. 

 Calif. Acad. ii. 50, f. 3. aS'. convobttnm, Klatt, Linna?a, xxxiv. 735. 



Common near the coast, in wet places, from San Diego to Oregon ; Indian Valley, Plumas 

 County, Lemnion. Another yellow si)ecics (S. Arizonicuui, Rothrock) is found in the mountains 

 of Arizona, with leafy branching stems and large truncate capsules. 



-K- -J- Flowers large, purple : style cleft at the apex : scapes compressed hut not 



margined. 



3. S. grandiflorum, Dougl, Scapes rather stout, G to 12 inches high, exceed- 

 ing the long-sheathing leaves : spathe 1 - 4-tlowered : bracts broad, very unequal, 

 the larger usually much exceeding the broadly campanulate ilowers : perianth- 

 segments G to 10 lines long, dark reddish purple, rarely white : Hlamcnts broad at 

 base, 3 to G lines long, mucli shorter than the style ; anthers 2 lines long. — Lindl. 

 Bot. Keg. xvi. t. 1364; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3509; Don iu Sweet's Brit. Fl. Gard. 

 2 ser. t. 388. aS'. Donglasii, Dietricli. 



A showy species of N. California, ranging to British Columbia, Idaho and N. Nevada ; May. 



Order CYII. AMARYLLIDACE^. 



Ovary inferior ; otherwise \\\iQ Liliacea; — differing from Iridacece iy having six 

 stamens and leaves not equitant ; its typical rej)resentatives acaulesccnt herbs with 

 tunicated bulbs. The only Californian genus is Agave, which with Fourcroya forms 

 the tribe Agavece, remarkably distinguished from the rest of the order by the stouter 

 often caulescent habit, the roots not bulbous, leaves thick and often spiny-toothed, 

 involucrate sheath none, restivation valvate, and the horizontal flattened black seeds 

 with a filiform embryo as long as the albumen. 



An order of 70 genem and nearly .'iOO species, of temperate and tro])ical regions, largely of the 

 Cape of Good Hope and South America, very sparingly represented in the United States. 



