196 



GILLIESIACEyE. 



[ Endoue.ns. 



/ \l 







\ 



\ 



Order LX. GILLIESIACEjE— Git.uesiads. 



Ciilliesiese, Lindl. in Bot. Beg. 992. (182G) ; Hooker in Bot. Mag. 2716. 1 1827).— Gilliesiaceae, Ed. pr. 

 ccxlix. Endl. Gen. p. 152 ; Meisner, Gen. p. 398. 



Diagnosis. — Lilial Endogens with a calyx-like involucre, the inner bracts of which are 



coloured and petal-like. 



Small herbaceous plants, with tuuicated bulbs. Leaves grasslike. Flowers umbellate, 

 somewhat spathaceous, inconspicuous, hermaphrodite, surrounded by bracts the outer 



of which are petaloid and herbaceous, the inner starved 

 and coloured. Perianth minute, either a single lip- 

 like lobe, or an urceolate 6-toothed body. Stamens 6, 

 either all fertile, or 3 sterile and nearly obliterated. Ovary 

 superior, 3-celled ; style 1 ; stigma simple. Capsule 3- 

 celled, 3-valved, with a locuiicidal dehiscence, many-seeded. 

 Seeds attached to the axis, by means of a broad hollow 

 neck ; testa black and brittle ; embryo curved in the midst 

 of fleshy albumen. 



To the following account of these plants, originally given 

 in the Botanical Register, when speaking of Gilliesia, little 

 has to be added. 

 ! /&Wi$\ " The whole structure of this plant is so peculiar, that I 



',/' scarcely know whether the description of the parts of fruc- 



tification above given will not be considered more paradoxi- 

 cal than just ; and yet, if the analogies the various organs 

 bear to those of other plants be carefully considered, their 

 structure will scarcely admit of any other interpretation. 

 With respect to the five petaloid leaves, which are here 

 described as bracts, and which bear a considerable de- 

 gree of resemblance to a perianth, it may be observed, 

 that this appearance is more apparent than real ; they 

 neither correspond in insertion nor in number with the 

 segments of a monocotyledonous perianth, nor do they 

 bear the same relation to the parts contained as a pe- 

 rianth should bear. The three outer are not inserted on 

 the same line, but are distinctly imbricated at the base ; 

 and the two inner do not complete the second series, as 

 would be required in a regular monocotyledonous perianth. 

 But if we were to admit, for a moment, the possibility of 

 these bracts being segments of a perianth, what explana- 

 tion could be given of the setiform processes proceeding 

 from their base, or of the central fleshy slipperlike body 

 from within which the stamens proceed ? The former bear 

 no determinate relation to the other parts of the flower in 

 their insertion ; they are subject to much diversity of form 

 and number, being sometimes eight, consisting of two un- 

 ^tMPIk \ i e "I ua ' subulate bodies proceeding from the edges of each 



ffin ' inTO lateral segment, the outermost of the two being wider than 



the innermost, and being, moreover, not unfrequently a 

 manifest process of the margin of the segment itself ; some- 

 times having their number reduced to four by the suppres- 

 sion of the exterior processes of each lateral segment ; and 

 occasionally having the outer processes suppressed on one 

 segment, and not suppressed on the other. In the many 

 flowers which have been under examination, the processes, 

 moreover, were always constituted of cellular tissue alone, 

 without either spiral or tubular vessels. These circum- 

 Fi stances being considered, it will scarcely be proposed, we 



presume, to identify them with abortive stamina. If they 

 are, notwithstanding what has been advanced, determined to be the perianth itself, what 



Fig. CXXXIII. — I. Miersia chilensis ; 2. its flower ; 3. the interior coloured petaloid bracts ; 4. a per- 

 pendicular section of the perianth (from a sketch by Mr. Miers) ; 5. a seed of Gilliesia graminea ; G. a 

 section of the same. 



