198 



MELANTHACE^E. 



[Endogens. 



Order LXI. MELA XTH ACE JE— Melanths. 



Melantlieae, Batsch. Tab. Aff. (1802,.— Colchicacea?, Dec. Fl. Fr. 3. 192. (1815) ; Ess. JUVd.298. (1816) ; 

 Bartl. Ord. Nat.bl. (1830).— Melanthacete, R. Brown, Prodr. 272. (1810) ; Endl. Gen. liii. Meis- 

 ner, Gen. p. 404. Kunth. Enum. 4. 136. A. Gray, Lyceum, A'. York, vol. 4. (1837).— Veratreae, Salisb. 

 in Hort. Trans 1.328. (1812); Agardh Aphor. 166. (1823).— Merenderae, Mirb. according to Be 

 CandolU. — Anguillareae, Don. in Linn. Trans. 18. 513. 



Diagnosis. — Lilial Endogens with a naked perianth, flat wlien withering, anthers turned 

 outwards, distinct styles, and fleshy albumen. 



Bulbous, tuberous, or fibrous-rooted plants, extremely variable in appearance ; in the 

 Colchicese steniless, with the flowers half subterranean like a Crocus ; in the Veratreae 

 with spiked, racemose, panicled, branching, or simple herbaceous stems. Flowers not 



unfrequently $ $ , white, green, or 

 purple. Calyx and corolla both ahke, 

 free, petaloid, in 6 pieces, or, in conse- 

 quence of the cohesion of the claws, 

 tubular ; the pieces generally involute 

 in aestivation. Stamens 6 ; anthers 

 turned outwards. Ovary 3-celled, 

 many-seeded ; style 3-parted ; stigmas 

 undivided ; [ovules orthotropal, semi- 

 campylotropal, semi-anatropal or ana- 

 tropal, Endl.] Capsule generally divi- 

 sible into 3 pieces ; sometimes with a 

 loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds with a 

 membranous testa ; albumen dense, 

 fleshy or cartilaginous ; embryo very 

 minute, inclosed, extremely uncertain 

 in its position. 



The plants of this Order have in some 

 cases the appearance of Crocuses, in 

 others that of small Lilies. Brown 

 considers its station to be between 

 Lilyworts and Rushes, from both which 

 it is known by its tnpartible fruit, 

 and anthers turned outwards. The 

 latter character gives the Melanths 

 their distinctive charac- 

 ter, more than anything 

 else, and, combined with 

 their separable carpels, 

 generally renders their 

 y identification free from 

 difficulty. Don has 

 well observed that " the 

 genus Colchicum esta- 

 blishes an evident rela- 



CXXX1V. 



l'ig exxxv. 



tionship, through Sternbergia and Crocus, between Melanths, Amaryliids, and Irids ; 

 Disporum joins them to Smilaccse, and Tofieldia to Rushes, while a comparison 

 of the structure of Uvularia and Erythronium fully makes out their affinity with 

 Liliaccoj." 



Frequent at the Cape (if Good Hope, not uncommon in Europe, Asia, and North 

 America, and existing within the tropics of India and New Holland, this Order appears to 

 be confined within no geographical limits ; it is, however, far more abundant in north- 

 ern countries than elsewhere. 



Few Orders of plants are more universally poisonous than this, whose qualities are 

 conspicuously indicated by Colchicum and Veratrum. The corm and seeds of the 



Pig. CXXXIV. — Colchicum autumnale. 1. A conn in flower ; 2. The same stripped of its outer coats, 

 and showing the ovaries after the floral envelopes are cut away ; 3. a transverse section of the ovaries : 

 t . a ripe capsule ; 5. a section of a seed ; 6. the flower cut open, to show the stamens and the 3-parted 

 style. 



Fig. OXXXV.— Section of the centre of the flower of Veratrum nigrum. 





