GROUP IV. PHANEROGAMIA : ANGIOSPERM4] : MONOCOTYLEDONES. 557 



capsule, usually extrorse anthers, and separate styles. Mostly rhizomatous 

 plants. 



Not many genera are common in cultivation ; among these Gloriosa, Uvularia, 

 and Veratrum may be mentioned ; Veratrum album and nigrum have broad 

 ovate leaves. 



Tofieldia palustris, the Scottish Asphodel, has ensiform radical leaves ; the 

 flowers, which are pale green, are disposed in a raceme on a scape ; it occurs 



PIG. 363. The underground part of a flowering plant of Colchicum. autumnole. A Seen 

 in front ; fc the conn; s' s" cataphyllary leaves embracing the flower-stalk; io?i its base, 

 from which proceed the roots, w. B Longitudinal section : h h a brown membrane which 

 envelops all the underground parts of the plant; st the flower and leaf-stalk of the 

 previous year which has died down, its swollen basal portion (fc) only remaining as a 

 reservoir of food-materials for the new plant now in flower. The new plant is a lateral 

 phootfrom the base of the corm (k), consisting of the axis, from the base of which proceed 

 the roots (ic), and the middle part of which (7c') swells up in the next year into a corm, the 

 oLl corm (Ic) disappearing ; the axis bears the sheath-leaves (s &' s") and the foliage-leaves 

 (l r I") ; the flowers (b b') are placed in the axils of the uppermost foliage-leaves, the axis 

 itself terminating amongst the flowers. (After Sachs.) 



