848 



XXXV. ERIOSPEKME^E. 



species, are now fallen into disuse. It is the same with the genera IlyacintJnts, Muscari, Omithoyalum, 

 the bulbs of which were formerly used as purgatives and diuretics ; those of Ornithoyahun altlssimum 

 are still in use at the Cape for asthma and pulmonary catarrhs [those of O. jryrenaicum are sold and 

 eaten at Bath as French asparagus]. The tuberous roots of Anthericum and Asphodclus lose their acridity 

 by desiccation or boiling ; they were formerly considered diuretics and emmenagogues ; the AupJiodel 

 (A. ramosui) was used as a substitute for the Squill. Some endeavours have recently been made to 

 extract an alcoholic spirit from its tuberous roots. 



Tulbaghia aUiacea, cepacea, c., with an alliaceous odour, have thick fibrous roots, which are cooked 

 in milk and administered at the Cape for phthisis and worms. 



Erioitpermwn latifolium. 

 Flower. 



XXXV. ERIOSPERMEJE. 



Perennial HERBS with tuberous roots. 

 LEAVES precocious, petioled, rounded, thick, 

 with projecting reticulate nerves ; blade bul- 

 billiferous or gemmiparous 

 below. SCAPE growing after 

 the decay of the leaves, 

 simple, cylindric. FLOWERS 

 5 , racemed or panicled ; 

 pedicels with a scarious 

 bract at the base. PERI- 

 ANTH petaloid, 6-partite, 

 campanulate, persistent. 

 STAMENS 6, inserted at the 

 bottom of the perianth ; 

 filaments flat, dilated at the 

 base ; anthers sagittate- 

 didymous, incumbent. 

 OVARY free, with 3 few- 

 ovuled cells ; style filiform, 

 trigonous; stigma sub-capi- 

 tate, obscurely 3-fid; ovules inserted at the bottom of the cell, ascending, anatropous. 

 CAPSULE membranous, ovoid, trilobed-trigonous, with 3 loculicidal semi-septiferous 

 valves. SEEDS few or solitary, erect, lanceolate ; testa thin, covered with long silky 

 hairs bent back to the chalaza, and longer than the nucleus. 



GENUS. 

 Eriospermum. 



Stem less plants of South Africa. The villosity of the seeds is the only character which distinguishes 

 Eriospermea from Liliacea-, a difference which, moreover, is found between the genera of Malvacea;, 

 Ternstramiacea and Convolvtilacete, but which has not therefore dissociated them. The tubers of one 

 species, which are scarlet, are used as a topic for the cure of ulcers. 



Eriospermum. 

 Ovule. 



Eriospermum. 

 Vertical section of fruit. 



