xyridace^e. (yelloav-eyed-grass family.) 547 



panded, peduncled, conduplicate, the base not contracted in fruit, 3 -4-flowcred ; the 

 odd petal round-ovate, nearly sessile. (C. agraria, Kunth.) — Alluvial hanks, 

 Illinois and southward. — The smallest-leaved and smallest-flowered speeies. 



2. TRADESCANTIA, L. Spiderwort. 



Flowers regular. Sepals herbaceous. Petals all alike, ovate, sessile. Sta- 

 mens all fertile: filaments bearded. Pod 2-3-celled, the cells 1-2-seeded. — 

 Perennials. Stems mucilaginous, mostly upright, nearly simple, leafy. Leaves 

 keeled. Flowers ephemeral, in umbelled clusters, axillary and terminal, pro- 

 duced through the summer: floral leaves nearly like the others. (Named for 

 the elder Tradescant, gardener to Charles the First.) 



* Umbels sessile, clustered, usually involucrate by 2 leaves. 



1. T. Virginica, L. (Common Spiderwort.) Leaves lance-linear, 

 elongated, tapering from the sheathing base to the point, ciliate, more or less 

 open; umbels terminal, many -flowered. — Moist woods, from W. New York to 

 Wisconsin, and southward : also commonly cultivated. — Plant either smooth or 

 hairy ; the large flowers blue, in gardens often purple or white. 



2. T. pilosa, Lehm. Leaves broadly lanceolate from a narrowed base, 

 pointed, downy -hairy both sides, minutely ciliate; umbels many-flowered, in 

 very dense terminal and axillary clusters ; pedicels and calyx glandular-hairy. 

 (T. flexuosa, Raf.) — Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and southward. — Stem stout, 

 smooth below, 2° - 3° high, often branched, zigzag above, forming a close clus- 

 ter of small (8" -9" broad) lilac-blue flowers in all the upper axils. 



* * Umbels long -peduncled, naked. 



3. T. r6sea, Vent. Small, slender (6'- 10' high), smooth; leaves linear, 

 grass-like, ciliate at the base; umbel simple, or a pair; flowers (6" wide) rose- 

 color. — Sandy woods, Pennsylvania (?) to Kentucky, and southward. 



Order 125. XYRIDACE^E. (Yellow-eyed-grass Family.) 



Rush-like herbs, with equitant leaves sheathing the base of a naked scape, 

 which is terminated by a head of perfect 3-androus flowers, ivith extrorse an- 

 thers, (/lumaceous calyx, and a regular colored corolla ; the 3-valved mostly 

 1-celled pod containing several or many orthotropous seeds with a minute 

 embryo at the apex of fleshy albumen : — represented by Xyris. — But the 

 anomalous genus Mayaca, consisting of a few moss-like aquatic plants, 

 intermediate in character between this family and the last, may be intro- 

 duced here. 



1. MAYACA, Aublet. ( Stena, Schreber.) 



Flowers single, terminating a naked peduncle. Perianth persistent, of 3 her- 

 baceous lanceolate sepals, and 3 obovate petals. Stamens 3, alternate with the 

 petals. Ovary 1-celled with 3 parietal few-ovuled placenta? : style filiform : 

 stigma simple. Pod 3-valved, several-seeded. — Moss-like low herbs, creeping 

 or floating in shallow water, densely leafy ; the leaves narrowly linear, sessile, 



