68 LILIACEAE. 



2. RHOEO Hance; Walp. Ann. 3: 659. 1852-3. 



A somewhat fleshy, short-stemmed, low herb, glabrous throughout or the 

 mouth of the leaf -sheathe pilose, the leaves much longer than the large-bracted 

 inflorescence, the axillary peduncles simple or forked, the umbelled flowers 

 almost concealed within the bracts. Sepals 3, petal-like, ovate-lanceolate, 

 distinct. Petals 3, ovate. Stamens 6, nearly equal; filaments pilose; anthers 

 oblong. Ovary 3-celled, sessile; ovules solitary in each cavity. Fruit a 

 3-valved capsule. Seeds rugose. [Name unexplained.] A monotypic genus. 



1. Rhoeo discolor (L'Her.) Hance; Walp. Ann. 3: 660. 1852-3. 

 Tradescantia discolor L'Her. Sert. Angl. 5. 1788. 



Stems stout, 2-15 cm. high, about 1.5 cm. thick, often clustered and 

 sometimes forming large colonies. Leaves few, nearly erect, oblong-lanceolate, 

 2-4 dm. long, 3-6 cm. wide, acuminate, dark green above, purple beneath, 

 rather fleshy; peduncles 2-4 cm. long; bracts compressed-conduplicate, broader 

 than high, 1.5-3 cm. high, acute; umbel many-flowered; pedicels about 1 cm. 

 long; petals white, 5-8 mm. long; capsule ovoid, obtuse, 3-angled, about 4 mm. 

 long; seeds about 3 mm. long. 



Shaded walls and other rocky places, Andros, New Providence : Cuba to St. 

 Thomas and Barbadoes ; Jamaica ; Mexico. OYSTER PLANT. BOAT LILY. 



Schoepf records Trad'escantia virginica, L. as seen by him in New Providence 

 in 1784, but this United States species is not now known to grow in the Bahamas. 



Order 9. LILIALES. 



Monocotyledonous plants, mostly with well-developed perianth, the 

 flowers usually regular and complete, and their parts in 3's or 6's. Ovary 

 superior or inferior, compound. Endosperm of the seed fleshy or horny. 



Ovary superior (partly inferior in Aletris). 

 Herbaceous plants or vines. 



Pruit a capsule. Fam. 1. LILIACEAE. 



Fruit a fleshy berry ; dioecious vines. Fam. 2. SMILACACEAE. 



Large tall woody plants. Fam. 3. DRACAENACEAE. 



Ovary inferior. 



Stamens 6 in our species. 



Erect perennial herbs ; flowers perfect. Fam. 4. AMARYLLIDACEAE. 



Twining vines ; flowers dioecious. Fam. 5. DIOSCOREACEAB. 



Stamens 3, opposite the outer corolla-segments. Fam. 6. TRIDACEAE. 



Family 1. LILIACEAE Adans. 

 LILY FAMILY. 



Scapose or leafy-stemmed herbs from bulj>s or corms, or rarely with 

 rootstocks or a woody caudex (Yucca), the leaves various. Flowers soli- 

 tary or clustered, regular, mostly perfect. Perianth parted into 6 distinct 

 or nearly distinct segments, or these more or less united into a tube in- 

 ferior or partly superior (Aletris). Stamens 6, hypogynous or borne on 

 the perianth or at the bases of its segments; anthers 2-celled, mostly in- 

 trorse, sometimes extrorse. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules few or numerous in each 

 cavity, anatropous or amphitropous; styles united; stigma 3-1'obed or 

 capitate. Fruit a usually loculicidal capsule, or in Yucca sometimes fleshy 



