156 



AMARYLLIDACEjE. 



[Endogens. 



and those stamens that actually develope. 

 Hence a curious instance is exhibited, to 

 which several parallels may, however, be 

 found in other families, of the force of deve- 

 lopment being generally confined to a series 

 of organs originating within those which 

 should be formed according to the ordinary 

 laws of structure. Of course, in all such 

 Orders a multiplication of the usual number 

 of stamens is more to be expected than where 

 this peculiar circumstance does not exist. 



The learned investigator of the Order, the 

 Honourable and very Rev. W. Herbert, 

 Dean of Manchester, includes in it the whole 

 Narcissal Alliance, to which he adds the 

 Yams ; for his reasons for which the reader 

 is referred to the elaborate monograph above 

 quoted. The remarkable difference in habit 

 between the bulbous species, like Narcissus, 

 and the arborescent kinds, such as Agave 

 and Littaea, is precisely analogous to what 

 occurs among the Lilies, and does not appear 

 to be connected with differences in the fruc- 

 tification. Dr. Joseph Hooker is of opinion 

 that Brown is right in regarding Campynema 

 as belonging to Melanths ; but its inferior 

 ovary is against this view, notwithstanding 

 its separate styles. It is probably an oscu- 

 lant genus. 



A very few only are found in the North of 

 Europe and the same parallel ; these are 

 plants of the genera Narcissus and Galan- 

 thus. As we proceed south they increase. 

 Pancratium appears on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean ; Crinums and Pancratiums 

 abound in the West and East Indies ; Hae- 

 manthus is found for the first time with some 

 of the latter on the Gold Coast ; Hippeastra 

 show themselves in countless numbers in 

 Brazil, and across the whole continent of 

 South America ; and, finally, at the Cape of 

 Good Hope the maximum of the Order is 

 beheld in all the beauty of Hsemanthus, 

 Crinum, Olivia, Cyrtanthus, and Brunsvigia. 

 A few are found in New Holland, the most 

 remarkable of which is Doryanthes. 



This is one of the few monocotyledonous Or- 

 ders in which poisonous properties occur. 

 They are principally apparent in the viscid 

 juice of the bulbs of Hsemanthus toxicarius 

 and some neighbouring species, in which th 

 Hottentots are said to dip their arrow-heads, 

 and Amaryllis Belladonna, which is said 

 to be employed for poisoning in the West 

 Indies, (Eiull.) ; but this is no doubt a mis- 

 take, and the statement applies to some other 

 bulbs of the Order — for the Belladonna is a 

 Cape plant ; probably to Hippeastra, which 

 Martius tells us have* poisonous bulbs. The 

 bulbs of Leucoium vernum, of the Snowdrop 

 and Daffodil, have for ages been known as 

 emetic ; and it has recently been shown by 

 Loiseleur Deslongehamps that a similar 

 power exists in Narcissus Tazzetta, odorus 

 and Poeticus,and in Pancratium maritimum . 



Fig. CV. 



Fig. CV.— Littaea geminiflora. 



