244 FLORA. 



Order 8. LILlALES. 



Monocotyledonous plants, mostly with well-developed perianth, the 

 flowers usually regular and complete, and their parts in 3*5 or 6's. Ovary 

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



Ovary superior (except in Aletris of the Liliaceae, and some species of Zygadenus in the 



Melanthaceae). 

 Perianth-segments distinct, green or brown, not petal-like ; herbs with grass-like 



leaves and small flowers. Fam. i. Juncaeeae. 



Perianth-segments distinct, or partly united, at least the inner petal-like. 



Fruit a capsule (except in Yucca baccata, where it is large, fleshy and indehis- 



cent). 



Capsule mostly septicidal ; plants rarely bulbous. Fam. 2. Melanthaceae, 

 Capsule loculicidal (septicidal in Calochorttis) ; plants mostly bulbous. 



Fam. 3. Liliaceae. 

 Fruit a fleshy berry. 



Erect herbs ; tendrils none ; flowers perfect. Fam. 4. Convallariaceae. 



Vines, climbing by tendrils, or rarely erect ; flowers dioecious, in axillary 

 umbels. Fam. 5. Smt/aceae. 



Ovary inferior, wholly or in part. - ^ 



Stamens 3, opposite the inner corolla-segments. Fam. 6. Haemodoraceae. 



Stamens 6 in our species. 



Erect perennial herbs ; flowers perfect. Fam. 7. Amaryllidaceae. 



Twining vines ; flowers dioecious. Fam. 8. Dioscoreaceae. 



Stamens 3, opposite the outer corolla-segments. Fam. 9. Jrtdaceae. 



Family 17. JUNCACEAE Vent.* 



Rush Family. 



Perennial or sometimes annual, grass-like, usually tufted herbs, com- 

 monly growing in moist places. Inflorescence usually compound or 

 decompound, paniculate, corymbose, cymose, or umbelloid, rarely re- 

 duced to a single flower, bearing its flowers singly, or loosely clustered, 

 or aggregated into spikes or heads. Flowers small, regular, with or with- 

 out bracelets (prophylla). Perianth 6-parted, the parts glumaceous. 

 Stamens 3 or 6, rarely 4 or $, the anthers adnate, introrse, 2-celled, 

 dehiscing by a slit. Pistil superior, tricarpous, i -celled or 3-celled, with 

 3-many ascending anatropous ovules, and 3 filiform stigmas. Fruit a 

 loculicidal capsule. Seeds 3-many, small, cylindric to subglobose, with 

 loose or close seed-coat, with or without caruncular or tail-like append- 

 ages. Seven genera and about 200 species, widely distributed. 



Leaf-sheaths open ; capsule i- or 3-celled, many-seeded ; placentae parietal or axial. 



i. June us. 

 Leaf-sheaths closed; capsule i-celled, 3-seeded, its placenta basal. 2. Juncoidts. 



I. JUNCUS L. (See Appendix.) 



Usually perennial plants, principally of swamp habitat, with glabrous herbage: 

 stems leaf-bearing or scapose, leaf-sheaths with free margins, and leaf blades terete, 

 gladiate, grass-like, or channeled. Inflorescence paniculate or corymbose, often 

 unilateral, sometimes congested, bearing its flowers either singly and with 2 bract- 

 lets (prophylla), or in heads and without bractlets, but each in the axil of a bract ; 

 bractlets almost always entire; stamens 6 to 3; ovary i -celled or by the intrusion 

 of the placentae 3-celled, the placentae correspondingly parietal or axial; seeds 

 several-many, usually distinctly reticulated or ribbed, often tailed. About l^o 

 species, most abundant in the north temperate zone. The species bloom in sum- 

 mer. [Latin, frortijungo, to bind, in allusion, to the use of these plants for w?,thes 



* Contributed by Mr. FREDERICK V. COVILLB, 



