446 AMARYLLIDACEAE. 



i. Hypoxis hirsuta (L,.) Coville. Star- 

 grass. (Fig. 1066.) 



Ornithogalum hirsutum L. Sp. PI. 306. 1753. 

 Hypoxis erecta L,. Syst. Ed. 10, 2: 986. 1759. 

 Hypoxis hirsuta Coville, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 118. 1894. 

 Conn ovoid, oblong or globose, ]'-yi' in diameter, 

 with numerous fibrous roots. leaves basal, nar- 

 rowly linear, i // -2>^ // wide, more or less villous, 

 mostly longer than the scapes; scapes slender, erect, 

 villous above, usually glabrous below, 2 / -6 / high; 

 flowers 1-6, umbellate; bracts subulate, shorter than 

 the pedicels; perianth -segments narrowly oblong, 

 spreading, mostly obtuse, bright yellow within, 

 greenish and villous without, $"-5" long; stamens 

 somewhat unequal ; style rather shorter than the sta- 

 mens, 3-angled, the stigmas decurrent on the angles; 

 capsule about i %." in diameter; seeds angled, black. 



In dry soil, Maine and Ontario to Assiniboia, Florida 

 and Texas. Ascends to 3000 ft. in Virginia. May-Oct. 



6. LOPHIOLA Ker, Bot. Mag. pi. 1596. 1814. 



An erect perennial herb with slender rootstocks, fibrous roots erect sparingly leafy stems, 

 the leaves narrowly linear and mostly basal, and numerous small yellowish flowers in a ter- 

 minal woolly cymose panicle. Perianth campanulate, persistent, of 6 nearly equal woolly 

 erect-spreading segments, slightly united at the base, and adnate to the lower part of the ovary. 

 Stamens inserted on the bases of the perianth-segments; filaments filiform, short; anthers 

 basifixed. Ovary 3-celled; style subulate, at length 3-cleft; ovules numerous, in 2 rows in 

 each cavity. Capsule ovoid, tipped with the style, finally loculicidally 3-valved at the sum- 

 mit. Seeds oblong, numerous, ribbed. [Greek, referring to the tufts of wool on the perianth.] 

 A monotypic genus of southeastern North America. 



i. Lophiola Americana (Pursh) Coville. 

 Lophiola. (Fig. 1067.) 



Conostylis Americana Pursh, Fl. Am: Sept. 224. 1814. 

 Lophiola aurea Ker, Bot. Mag. pi. 1596. 1814. 

 Lophiola Americana Coville, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 

 118. 1894. 



Stem stiff, erect, terete, glabrous below, white- 

 woolly above, i-2 tall. Leaves equitant, gla- 

 brous, much shorter than the stem, the upper ones 

 reduced to bracts; panicle densely white-woolly, 

 composed of numerous few-several-flowered cymes; 

 pedicels short, rather stout, erect or ascending; 

 perianth-segments linear-lanceolate, about 2" long, 

 woolly outside, longer than the stamens and with a 

 tuft of wool at the base within ; capsule about as long 

 as the persistent style, shorter than the perianth. 



Pine barren bogs, New Jersey to Florida. June-Aug. 



2 

 1836. 



Family 24. DIOSCOREACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 359. 



YAM FAMILY. 



Herbaceous or slightly wood}' twining vines with fleshy or woody rootstocks, 

 slender stems, petioled, mostly cordate, several-nerved and reticulate-veined 

 leaves, alternate or the lower opposite or verticillate, and small inconspicuous 

 dioecious or monoecious (in some exotic genera perfect) regular flowers in 

 spikes, racemes or panicles. Perianth 6-parted, that of the pistillate flowers 

 persistent. Staminate flowers with 6 or 3 stamens, sometimes with a rudimen- 

 tary ovary. Pistillate flowers with an inferior 3-celled ovary, 3 styles and 3 ter- 

 minal stigmas, sometimes also with 3 or 6 staminodia; ovules 2 (rarely i) in 

 each cavity of the ovary, pendulous, anatropous or amphitropous. Fruit a 

 3-valved, 3-angled capsule in the following genus. Endosperm of the -sec-el 

 fleshy or cartilaginous, enclosing the small embryo. 



About 9 genera and 175 species, mostly natives of America, a few in the Old World. 



