RhyncTiospora.'] TRIANDUIA — JMONOGYNIA. 13 



talous, 5-cleft, gibbous or spurred at tbe base. Fruit 1 -seeded, 

 crowned with the feathery jmppus. — Nat. Ord. VALERiANEiE, 

 DC. — Named from valeo, to be powerful, on account of the 

 medicinal effects. 



2. Fedia. Cal. small, unequally toothed, crowning' the fruit. 

 Cor. monopetalous, 5-cleft, gibbous at the base. Capsule inde- 

 hiscent, 3-celled, 3-seeded : 2 cells generally abortive. — Nat. 

 Ord.VAhERiAyjEJEyDC. — Name given by Adanson, but its mean- 

 ing is not accurately known : according to Smith, Fedus is syn- 

 onymous with luedxis, a kid. 



3. Crocus. Perianth single, coloured ; tube very long ; limb 

 cut into 6 equal segments. Stigma 3-lobed, plaited. — Nat. Ord. 

 Iride.e, Juss. — Named from x^oy.ri, a thread or filament, from 

 the appearance of the saffron of the shops, which is the dried 

 stigmas of Crocus sativus. 



4. Trichonema. Perianth single, petaloid, in 6 deep, equal 

 segments ; tube shorter than the limb. Filaments hairy. Stigma 



bipartite, slender. Seeds globose Nat. Ord. Iride^e, Juss. — 



Named from ^g/^, a hair, and i''/5,aa, 9. filament. 



5. Iris. Perianth single, petaloid, 6-cleft, each alternate 

 segment longer and reflexed. Stigmas 3, petaloid, covering the 



stamens Nat. Ord. Iride^e, Juss. — Named from the beautiful 



and varied colours of its flowers. 



** Flowers inferior, glumaccous'^ {dry and chaffy^. Seed one. 



6. CyPERUS. Spikelels two-ranked, many-flowered ; glumes 

 of one valve, keeled, mostly all fertile, equal. Bristles none. 

 Style inarticulated, deciduous. — Nat. Ord. CyperacejE, Juss. — 

 Named from -/.vrsiPog of the Greeks, an appellation given to one 

 of this genus. 



7. ScHfENUS. Spikelets two ranked, 1 — 3-flowered, outer 

 glumes smaller, empty. Bristles small or none. Style deciduous. 

 — Nat. Ord. CypERACEiE, Juss. — Name from eyoivog, a cord, 

 because a kind of cordage was anciently made from plants of this 

 tribe. 



8. Rhynchospora. Spihelets few-flowered, the glumes one- 



1 This little groupe (with the exception of I^ardvs, which is a Grass) 

 together with Ctadium in the 2d Class and Kohresia and Carex in the 21st, 

 constitute the Nat. Ord. Cyperacece : and the structure of their flowers is so 

 different fioni that of our other British plants, that the same terms can hardly 

 be applied to their coverings. They are collected into little spikes, and each 

 within a chaffy scale, here called, as in Iv Flora, a c/liime, {hractea in Liiull. 

 Syn.) ; within this, is often another covering (the true per2«7i;/i), membranous 

 and urceolate in Carex, in the present groupe consisting of hairs or bristles, 

 which accompany the fruit, and are calk'd hypogynous ; but I\lr Wilson has 

 proved that they are not placed immediately at the base of the gprnien between 

 it and the stamens, as Smith supposes, (E. Fl. v. i. p. 50.) ; l)ut on the out- 

 side of the lattei- : hence Mr Brown rightly looked upon them as the true 

 perianth of the flower. 



