288 FLORA. 



13. Sisyrinchium strictum Bicknell. STRICT BLUE-EYED GRASS. About 

 30 cm. high in erect tufts not fibrose at base, pale light green and glaucous, not 

 changing color when dry. Stems and leaves 1-2 mm. wide, mostly serrulate, the 

 leaves thin, tapering-acute, over half the height of the stems; node only one, its 

 erect leaf closely united-clasping below, subequal with the two short approximate 

 peduncles, 4-7 cm. long; spathes sometimes much tinged with red-purple, erect, 

 narrow, 1620 mm. long, the bracts subequal, sharp-pointed, the outer one rather 

 abruptly narrowed above ; flowers rather small, deep violet blue ; capsules pale 

 and thin-walled, somewhat obovoid, about 4 mm. high, on suberect, slightly 

 exserted margined pedicels. In sandy soil, Montcalm Co., Mich. June. 



Order 9. SCITAMINALES. 



Large monocotyledonous herbs with very irregular flowers. Ovary 

 inferior, composed of several united carpels. Seeds with endosperm. 



Family i. MARANTACEAE Lindl. 

 Arrowroot Faintly. 



Tall herbs, perennial by rootstocks or tubers, or sometimes annual, 

 with scapose or leafy stems, mostly large entire long-petioled sheathing 

 leaves, often swollen at the base of the blade, the veins pinnate, parallel. 

 Flowers perfect, or sometimes polygamous, in panicles, racemes or spikes. 

 Perianth superior, its segments distinct to the summit of the ovary, or 

 united into a tube, normally in 2 series of 3, the outer (sepals) usually dif- 

 ferent from the inner (petals). Perfect stamen I ; anthers i-2-celled. 

 Staminodia mostly 5, often petal-like, very irregular. Ovary i-3-celled, 

 inferior; ovule i in each cavity, anatropous ; style slender, curved, ter- 

 minal ; stigma simple. Fruit capsular or berry-like. Seed solitary in each 

 cavity. Embryo central, in copious endosperm. About 12 genera and 

 1 60 species, mostly tropical. 



i. THALIA L. 



Annual (or perennial?) herbs, with long-petioled basal leaves, erect scapes and 

 terminal panicled spikes of bracted flowers. Sepals 3, membranous, separate, 

 equal. Petals 3, separate or somewhat coherent at the base. Staminodia slightly 

 united below, one of them (labellum) broad, crested. Anther I -celled. Ovary 

 i -celled or with 2 additional small empty cavities. Base of the style adnate to the 

 base of the stamen-tube. Stigma 2-lipped, dorsalty appendaged. Capsule glo- 

 bose or ovoid. Seed solitary, erect. Embryo strongly curved. [In honor of Jo- 

 hann Thalius, German naturalist of the sixteenth century.] About 7 species, all 

 American. Besides the following, another occurs in the Southern States. 



i. Thalia dealbata Roscoe. POWDERY THALIA. (I. F. f. 1086.) Plant 

 white-powdery nearly all over. Scapes terete, 9-18 dm. tall ; petioles 3-8 dm. 

 long ; leaves ovate- lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 1.5-3 dm. long; panicle 2-4.5 

 dm. long, its spikes numerous; bracts narrow, deciduous, not longer than the 

 spikes ; bractlets ovate, unequal, coriaceous, about 12 mm. long; flowers purple, 

 longer than the bractlets; capsule ovoid, about 8 mm. in diameter. In ponds and 

 swamps, S. Car. to La., Mo. and Tex. 



Order 10. ORCHIDALES. 



Monocotyledonous herbs, many tropical species epiphytes. Flowers 

 very irregular, or in Burmanniaceae regular, mostly complete and per- 

 fect, their parts in 3's or 6's. Ovary inferior, compound. Seeds very 

 nv.merous and minute, without endosperm. 



Flowers regular ; stem leaves reduced to scales. Fam. i. Burmanniaceae* 



Flowers very irregular. Fam. 2. Orchidaceae. 



