LILIACE.E. 



143 



stout, 8 to 12 feet liigli, nearly covered with large triangular foliaccous bmcts (4 or 

 5 in(;lie3 long), acariousiy margined : branches of the broad oval panicle very stout, 

 horizontal or the upper ascending, 4 to 9 inches long, eacli with a terminal compact 

 cluster of 30 to 50 nearly sessile flowers involucrate with large foliaceous bracts : 

 flowers greenish yellow, 3 to 3^ inches long, the ovary a little shorter than the 

 perianth ; tube broadly funnelform, nearly half shorter than the suberect linear- 

 oblong lobes : stamens slightly exserted, shorter than the at last elongated style : 

 anthers 14 lines long: capsule acute, 2} inches long and nearly an inch broad: 

 seeds 4 lines wide. 



On dry hills overlooking tiic Pjicific near tlie Boundary ]\roiunnent in tlio southwestern corner 

 of San Diego County. One of the most striking and beautiful species of tiie genus, named in 

 honor of Henry Shaw of St. Louis, as the founder and donor to tliat city of tlie " iMissouri Botanic 

 Gardens." Now introduced into cultivation ; a detailed account of the flowers and flowering is 

 given by Dr. Engelnianu in Trans. Acad. St. Louis, iii. 537, t. 4. 



Order CVIII. LILIACEiE. 



Terrestrial plants, mostly herbaceous, with perfect flowers, a regular corolladike 

 6-cleft or divided perianth (the 3 outer segments rarely dissimilar and more or less 

 foliaceous), stamens opposite the segments, with 2-celled anthers (or confluently 1- 

 celled), and a superior 3-cclled ovary becoming a few - many-seeded 3-celled capsule 

 or berry ; seeds anatropous or amphitropous, with small embryo surrounded by 

 copious albumen. — Stems chiefly from tunicated or scaly bulbs, or corms, or more 

 or less thickened rhizomes. Leaves sometimes net-veined. Flowers not spa- 

 thaceous except in a few umbelliferous genera, dimerous in Maianlhemum, dioe- 

 cious or polygamous in Nolina and in some Melanthaceous genera. The stamens 

 are only 3 (and ovary 1-celled) in Scoliopus, occasionally 3 with alternating staminodia 

 in a few other genera. — Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. xiv. 213. 



A very large and important order, distributed all over the globe, excepting the polar regions, 

 as now generally defined including about 180 genera and 1900 species, of which 50 genera and 

 235 species are North American. ^L'xny are remarkable for the bcautj' and fragrance of their 

 flowers and have always been favorites in cultivation, as the Ijily, Tulip, Hyacinth, Lily of tlu 

 Valley, etc. Some othei-s are cultivated for food, as Asparagus and various species of Allium ; 

 and many are valuable in medicine, among them the S(|nill {Scilla), Colchicum, Aloe, and Helle- 

 bore ( Vcratnun). The order forms a marked feature in the flora of California, and several of the 

 genera are either peculiar to the State or to the western coast of the continent. 



\. Flowers with scarious bracts, a pei-sistent jierinnth with 1 -several-nerved segments, perigy- 



nous stamens with introi-se anthers, and an undivided and mostly persistent style. Leaves with 



numerous longitudinal nerves and transverse veinlets. Pedicels often jointed. 



♦ Inflorescence umbellate upon a naked scape from a bulb or corm : fruit a loculicidal capsule : 



seeds more or less turgid, with close black testa. 



-t- Bracts broad and spathaceous: bulb mostly tunicated : taste and odor alliaceous. 



1. Allium. Perianth deeply parted ; segments 1-ncrved. Filaments naked, in 1 row. Ovary 



globose-obovate, 3-lobed. Style filiform, jointed upon the very short axis. Seeds 1 or 

 2 in each cell. Pedicels not jointed, 

 -f- +- Bracts several, distinct : corm coated, not alliaceous : capsule scarcely lobed, beaked, 



several-seeded. 

 ++ Perianth 6-parted ; segments spreading, closely 2-3nerved : stamens in 1 row : capsule sub- 

 globose, subsessile. 



2. Muilla. Flowers greenish white. Filaments filiform, naked, adnate at base. Pedicels not 



jointed. 



3. Bloomeria. Flowers yellow, on jointed pedicels. Filaments elongated, free, surrounded at 



base by a cup-shaped winged appendage. 



