472 MELANTHACE^E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



1. Y. filamentosa, L. (ADAM'S NEEDLE.) Stemless,i. e. the tram 

 (from a running rootstock) rising for a foot or less above the earth, covered with 

 the lanceolate unarmed coriaceous leaves (l-2 long), which bear filaments on their 

 margins ; scape or flower-stem 6 - 8 high, erect. Sandy soil, E. Virginia and 

 southward. July. 



Y. GLORi6sA, L., and Y. ALOir6LiA, L. (SPANISH BAYONET), which are 

 caulescent and thick-leaved species, belong farther south, and probably are not 

 indigenous north of the coast of North Carolina. 



The TULIP, the CROWN IMPERIAL, the HYACINTH, and the TUBEROSE 

 (POLIANTHES TUBER6SA) are common cultivated representatives of this 

 Family. 



ORDER 127. MELANTHACEJE. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with regular 6-merous and 6-androus flowers, the consimilar peri- 

 anth free (or nearly free) from the 3-celled ovary, extrorse anthers, and 3 

 more or less distinct styles. (Anthers introrse in Tolieldia, a connecting 

 link with Juncacese/. Styles sometimes perfectly united in Uvularieae.) 

 Seeds anatropous, with a soft or membranous seed-coat, and a small embryo 

 in copious albumen. If we include the Bell worts, which form a group 

 ambiguous between this order, TrilliaceaG, and Liliaceae, (all of which are 

 connected by various gradations,) we shall have two strongly marked sub- 

 orders, viz. : 



SUBORDER I. UVULARIE^. THE BELLWORT FAMILY. 



Perianth early deciduous, the sepals distinct, petal-like. Styles united 

 into one at the base or throughout ! Fruit a 3-celled few-seeded berry or 

 loculicidal pod. Stems from small perennial rootstocks and fibrous roots, 

 forking, bearing ovate or lanceolate membranaceous sessile or clasping 

 leaves, like those of Solomon's Seal, and perfect flowers : peduncles solitary 

 or 1-flowered. 



1. UVULARIA. Pod 3-angular or 3-lobed. Anthers linear, adnate, on short filaments. 



2. PROSARTES. Berry 3-6-seeded. Anthers linear-oblong, pointless, fixed near the base. 



Flowers terminal. 



3. STREPTOPUS. Berry several-seeded. Anthers arrow-shaped, 1 - 2-pointed. Flowers ax- 



illary ; their pedicels bent in the middle. 



SUBORDER II. MELANTHIE^E. TRUE COLCHICUM FAMILY. 



Perianth mostly persistent or withering away ; the sepals distinct, or 

 rarely their claws united. Styles 3, separate. Fruit a 3-celled 3-partible 

 or septicidal, rarely loculicidal, pod. Herbs with acrid poisonous proper- 

 ties ; the simple or rarely panicled stems springing from solid bulbs or 

 corms, or sometimes from creeping rootstocks. Flowers sometimes pc lyga- 

 mous or dioecious. 



