MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 37 



1. C. Fraseri, Torr. WILD HYACINTH. Leaves keeled, weak, 

 shorter than the scape. Flowers in a long-bracted raceme, pale 

 blue. River bottoms and other damp, rich soil. 



XTV. ORNITHOGALUM, Tourn. 



Stemless herbs from coated bulbs. Leaves linear, fleshy. 

 Scape erect. Flowers in corymbs or racemes, bracted. Peri- 

 anth .segments 6, white, nerved, persistent. Stamens 6, 

 hypogynous, slender. Filaments flattened. Ovary sessile, 

 3-celled, few-ovuled. Fruit a roundish, 3-angled capsule, 

 seeds black.* 



1. 0. umbellatum, L. STAR OF BETHLEHEM. Bulb ovoid, mem- 

 branous-coated. Leaves numerous, linear, fleshy, mid-vein nearly 

 white, as long as the scape. Scape slender, 6-12 in. high. Flowers 

 opening in sunshine, long-pediceled. Bracts linear-lanceolate, about 

 as long as the pedicels. Perianth segments oblong-lanceolate, white 

 with a green stripe on the back, twice the length of the stamens. 

 Introduced from Europe ; very common about old gardens.* 



XV. HYACINTHUS, L. 



Stemless herbs from coated bulbs. Leaves linear, fleshy. 

 Flowers in an erect spike, pediceled, bracted. Perianth 

 tubular below, lobed and spreading above. Stamens short, 

 included. Style short, stigma knobbed. Ovary 3-celled, 

 rnany-ovuled.* 



1. H. orientalis, L. HYACINTH. Leaves lance-linear, thick and 

 fleshy, smooth. Scape erect, many-flowered. Segments united about 

 half their length, white, blue, or red. Filaments very short. Ovary 

 rarely maturing seed. Common in cultivation.* 



XVI. YUCCA, L. 



Plants with woody and leafy stems. Leaves numerous, 

 rigid, spine-pointed, persistent. Flowers in large terminal 

 racemes or panicles, bracted, nodding. Perianth bell-shaped, 

 segments 6, nearly alike, deciduous. Stamens 6, filaments 

 thickened above, often papillose. Anthers small. Ovary 

 sessile, 3-celled, or becoming 6-celled, 3-angled, many-ovuled. 

 Fruit an oblong, 3-angled, many-seeded, dehiscent capsule, 

 or fleshy and indehiscent.* 



