448 



SCIV. LILIACE-^. 



[ Simethis. 



solitary, or with branched footstalks, drooping, — We have been in- 

 duced to adopt the present genus on account of its difference of habit 

 and having so few characters in common with the last, the jointed 

 pedicel being thought sufficient by some botanists to remove several 

 ."■enera of this Order into a different division from others. 



.7ilti/l 



4 



leaves ovate-elliptical 



alternate half- embracing the rounded stem, peduncles one- or 

 many-flowered, filaments hairy. Convallaria Z. : JE. B, t. 279. 



Woods and coppices, in various parts of England and the south of 

 Scotland; also at Kingusle, 7 miles from Aberdeen. 2f. 5, 6 — 

 Stems 2 ft. high, bare of leaves below. Leaves large, marked with 

 longitudinal nerves, secund ; the flowers drooping in an opposite 

 direction, white, greenish at the tips. Berries bluish-black. 



3. P. officinale All. (angular S.) ; leaves ovate-elliptical al- 

 ternate lialf-embracing the angular stem, peduncles mostly 

 single-flowered, filaments glabrous. Convallaria Polygonatum 

 Z. : E. B. t. 280c 



Woods in England, rare. Yorkshire ; Somerset; Kent. If.. 5 

 Smaller than the last. Flowers greener, fragrant. 



6. 



(Maianthemum hifolium DC. has two stations assigned to it in the 

 N. of England in Gerarde's Herbal, and more lately has been said to 

 be found in Northumberland and Middlesex. We do not believe it 

 to be indigenous, although it may be naturalized in one or two 



places.) 



** Roots never hidhous. Fruit dry^ capsular. Anthericese. 



(Gen. 5.) ' 



5. Simethis Kunth. Simethis. 



Floioers perfect, jointed with the pedicel. Perianth 6-par- 

 tite, spreadinof, deciduous. Stani, 6, distinct. Filaments yfOoWy 

 upwards. Anthers oblong, emarginate. Ovary 3-celIed, with 

 2 superposed ovides in each cell. Style filiform. Stigma entire. 

 Capsule 3-celIed; cells 2-seeded. — oSTamed after the Sicilian 

 Nymph Simethis or Sima^this. (See Ovid Met. xiii. 750.) 



. 1, S. Mcolor K. ( variegated S.}. Kunth Enum, iv. p. 618. 

 Antherlcum i^e^/". Phalanglum DC. Anthericum planifolium 

 i. Phalangium Pers. : E. B. S. t. 2952. 



Barren heaths. In a plantation of firs (chiefly of Pinus maritima) 

 on Poole heath, Dorsetshire, perhaps introduced with the trees from 

 France. Derrynane, co. Kerry, ir . 6, — Jloot a number of fleshy 

 fibres, said to be purgative. Leaves linear, flat, somewhat carinate 

 and folded especially at the upper part. Scape and leaves embraced 

 by sheathing scales. Flowers panicled, on long stalks, erect, white 

 within, externally violet or purple at the summit and on the margin. 

 Pedicels with a membranaceous bractea at their base. Seeds black 

 and shining, attached to the axis of the capsule by short thick white 



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