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Art. IX. — On Brevoortla. 



Description of Plate 55, designed to illustrate Prof. A. Wood's Monograph of the Liliaccae of our 

 Pacific States, published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences, June, 1868; and also his Memoir of the new genus Brevcortia, in Proceedings, June, 

 1867. 



A. Portrait of Brevoortla Ida-Maia* two-tliirds of tlie natunil 8ize. ov. Tlie 

 ov.ary, with style anrl stigma, h. The perianth split and laid open, showing the 

 three sessile, cordate-lanceolate anthers, and the three broad, short, rectangular lobes 

 or leaves of the yellow, membranous corona, alternating with the anthers. The 

 dotted lines represent the segments of the perianth as \{ erect. 



C, D, E. The Flowers of the genus Z)tc'7teWe??i/?KY, Kunth, introduced for compa- 

 rison. C. DlcheJosiemma congesta, Kth., a single flower (blue), life size. c. Perianth 

 laid open, showing the three anthers split at each end, and the peculiarly winged fila- 

 ments. 



* BREVOORTIA, nov. gen. 



Perianlliiiim corallaceum (coccineum), tubuliforme, superne venti'icosum Ikuce remisse contracta, regulare, 

 >persistens; limbo 6-partito, laciniis ovatis, obtusis, arete revolutis sexies tubo brevioribus. Corona (flava) 

 brevis, erecta, tribus squamis truncatis iiilegris, bis latioribus quam longis, constituta. Stamina 3, squamas 

 excedentia. Filamenta per totam longitudinem tubo adnata, interioribus laciniis opposita, ac cum squamis 

 alternantia. Anthera3 liberaj oblongo-lineares, extrorsa;, upice obtusa;, basi profunde bifidoe ibique iusertae. 

 Ovarium liberum, ovatum, triloculare. Ovula in loculis 3 — 5, uniseriata. Stylus continuus, erectus, longitu- 

 dine perianthii. Stigma capitatum, trilobatum. Capsula? 



llerba glabra, seapigera (bulbosa?). Folia n — 7, linearia, canalioulata, obtusa. Scapus teres, erectus, 

 rigidus, 2 — 4 pedalis, longitudine folioruni. Flores 8 — 12, in apice scapi umbellati, unciales, nutantcs, spatha 

 4-valvi suffulti ; pedicellis 1 — 2 policaribus diffusis ; bracteis ovato-lanceolatis, purpureis. 



B. Ida-Maia. Grows in deep rich soil on high hills of the Trinity Mt. Range, Shasta county, California, 

 near the stage-road from Shasta City to Yreka. I saw it here in full bloom about the first of June, 1866, occu- 

 pying a space of several acres. The leaves are very long and narrow, and recurved. The scape, although 

 slender, is rigidly erect, of three, or even four feet high, round, smooth, wavy, and bearing at the top an umbel 

 of about twelve scarlet or bright red flowers, nodding on their slender, recurved, unequal foot-stalks. The 

 form of the perianth is between cylindric and pyriform, about one inch in length, with the limb very short, of 

 six valvate lobes. Before opening, these lobes are chrome-green in color, making a peculiar contrast. After 

 opening, they are yellow. The three leaves (scales) constituting the corona are yellow, one line in length by 

 two or three lines in breadth, occupying the place of, but in no wise resembling, abortive stamens. Unfortu- 

 nately I found no specimen in fruit; neither did I secure a bulb, so deeply buried were they, and so impatient 

 of delay were my fellow passengers. The whole plant possesses singular grace and beauty, and few arc better 

 worthy of a place in the flower garden. 



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