Marantacecz. 469 



C. edulis, from South America, is a taller species, 5 to 6 feet 

 high, with reddish stems and orange-scarlet flowers ; C. coccinea, 

 from the same country, has scarlet flowers -with the labellum 

 spotted ; C. angustifolia or speciosa, from Brazil, has narrower 

 leaves than any of the preceding, and yellow and red flowers ; 

 (7. Warscewiczii, from New Grenada, has dark-coloured stems 

 and purple-bordered foliage. There are many other species and 

 varieties in cultivation, and the number is increasing every 

 year, so that the latest information can only be gleaned from 

 the florists' catalogues. 



Thalia dealbata (fig. 228) is a hardy North American plant 

 belonging to this family. It is an elegant herbaceous aquatic 

 from 2 to 4 feet high with fme glaucous foliage and handsome 

 panicles of purple flowers. It should be planted in a good 

 depth of water to enable it to resist the effects of our Winters. 



The exclusively American order, Bromeliacece, belongs to 

 the group of Endogens, with an inferior seed vessel ; but only 

 the three inner perianth-segments are petaloid. Puya Chilen- 

 sis., syn., Pourretia coarctata, a half hardy shrub, is one of the 

 largest species. It has a branching stem of three to four 

 feet high, crowned with rosettes of tough linear leaves, from the 

 centre of which spring the large spicate panicles, six to eight 

 feet high, of yellow flowers. 



ORDER IX.- IBIDACEJE. 



Perennial often tuberous-rooted herbs with usually glabrous 

 eqnitant distichous leaves and terminal bracteate spikes, umbels, 

 corymbs or panicles of showy flowers. Perianth superior, com- 

 posed of six divisions in two series, equal or unequal, the inner 

 sometimes smallest. Stamens 3. Stigmas often petaloid. 

 Fruit an inferior 3-celled many - seeded capsule dehiscing 

 loculicidally. Seeds spheroid, angular or winged, albuminous. 

 Tins order comprises about 50 genera and 500 species, dis- 

 persed throughout the temperate regions of the whole world. 

 The British species are few and rare, with the exception of /ris 

 Pseiiddcorus, the Yellow Flag. 



1. SISYRINCHIUM. 



Tuberous or thick fibrous - rooted plants with grass - like 

 radical equitant leaves. Flower-scape usually flattened and 

 two-edged. Flowers umbellate or solitary. Perianth regular, 



