Hypoxidee. | | FLORA OF TASMANIA. 35 
rescentia subumbellata, spathis fasciculorum subverticillatis, pedicellis filiformibus puberulis, perianthii 
foliolis obovato-oblongis, filamentis basi vix connatis. (Gunn, 270.) (TAB. CXXIX.) 
Haz. Dense woods, abundant in various parts of the Island, ascending to 4000 feet; Western 
Mountains, Laurence; Acheron River, Hampshire Hills, etc., Guna.—(Fl. Nov.) 
A very elegant, white-flowered, little plant, forming large patches in shaded forests.—Rhizome slender, 1 inch 
long, giving off slender root-fibres. Leaves 3-6 inches long, 4-4 inch broad, with minutely ciliated margins. 
Scapes slender, longer than the leaves, once or twice divided near the top. Pedicels filiform, in fascicles, subtended 
by one or several lanceolate spathes, which approach, and form a whorl or involucre. Flowers about 4 inch broad. 
Capsules globose, size of a small pea.—PrATE CXXIX. Fig. 1, flower; 2, stamen ; 3, ovary and stigma ; 4, transverse 
section of ovary; 5, capsule; 6, transverse section of ditto; 7, seed; 8, ditto, cut longitudinally :—al/ magnified. 
Nar. On». II. HA MODORACEZ. 
The plants of this Order are for the most part natives of the southern hemisphere, and especially of 
Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. Those that are natives of the latter locality are almost exclusively 
found in South-western Australia, whence nearly fifty species have been brought; there are also three or 
four New South Wales species, all belonging to the genus Hemodorum, which is both a tropical one and a 
native of Tasmania. The Order is allied to Melanthacea and Iridea, differing from the former in its in- 
trorse anthers, entire stigma, and usually inferior ovary, and from the latter in the stamens, when only three, 
being opposite the inner lobes of the perianth. 
Gen. I. HAMODORUM, Sm. 
Perianthium superum v. semisuperum, 6-partitum, persistens, glabrum. Stamina 3. Ovarium 3- 
loculare, loculis 2-ovulatis; stylo filiformi; stigmate simplici. Capsula semisupera v. supera, 3-loba, locu- 
licide 3-valvis. Semina 2, peltata, compressa; testa membranacea ; umbilico ventrali; albumine carnoso ; 
embryone minimo.—Herbx glabra ; radicibus e fibris incrassatis tuberibusve coccineis elongatis fasciculatis ; 
caulibus foliatis ; foliis equitantibus, aversis, planis compressisve ; floribus corymbosis, rarius spicatis. 
Upwards of twelve species of Hemodorum are known, all natives of Australia, and, with the exception of two 
or three, of the south-western quarter. The Tasmanian H. distichophyllum is a small, tufted, rigid herb, with dis- 
tichous, equitant, compressed leaves, 2-3 inches long, and a stout central scape about the same length, covered with 
large, concave, loosely sheathing, coriaceous bracts, and bearing a small, compact head of corymbose flowers.— Peri- 
anth 4 inch across, of six nearly equal; spreading, obovate-oblong leaflets. Stamens three, with slender, erect fila- 
ments, and small, introrse anthers. Ovary half-superior, three-lobed, three-celled ; cells with two ovules in each. Style 
slender, erect, undivided, with a simple, inconspicuous stigma. Capsule almost wholly superior, three-lobed, coria- 
ceous, splitting down the back of each lobe. Seeds two, compressed. (Name from aipa, blood, and dwpov, a gift.) 
l. Heemodorum distichophyllum (Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 854); humilis, foliis distichis equitantibus 
e basi longe vaginante lineari-subulatis compressis coriaceis, scapo brevi robusto bracteato, bracteis coria- 
ceis laxis concavis, floribus capitatis, foliolis perianthii interioribus paulo minoribus basi staminiferis, sta- 
minibus exsertis. (Gunn, 2055.) 
Has. Heathy hills near Macquarrie Harbour, Milligan.— (Fl. Nov.) 
Nar. Orv. IV. HYPOXIDEA. 
A small Order, whose species are natives of South Africa and Australia chiefly, though several are 
found in India, the Malay Islands, and other parts of the world. 
