332 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society, 



Eestionace^ 

 (after Hieronymus, in Engler-Prantl, Natiirl. Pflanzenfam.). 



I. Diplantherce. 



3 genera in South-West Australia. 



II. Haplantherce. 



1 genus in Australia and New Zealand ; 1 (Bestio) in South Africa 

 and Australia ; 9 restricted to South Africa ; 3 restricted to South- 

 West Australia ; 1 to South Australia ; 1 (Leptocarpus) with 1 species 

 in Cochinchina, 1 species in Chile, 7 species in South Africa, 12 

 species in Australia, of which one also in New Zealand. 



It is interesting to note that a more reduced type, the nearly allied 

 Centrolepidace^, have their chief centre of development in South- 

 West Australia and Victoria, but there are also representatives of the 

 order in the southernmost parts of South America and the neigh- 

 bouring islands, also in New Zealand and other Pacific islands, 

 between Australia and South America, only 1 in Cochinchina, 

 w^hile the Eriocaulace^, which represent a type that may also 

 have been derived from Bestionacece, have a much wider distribution 

 chiefly in the Tropics of both hemispheres. 



Juncace^. 



Prionium, South-West Cape Colony to Lower Albany. Of allied 

 genera, 1 in Bolivia and Northern Chile, 1 in the Andes, 1 in the 

 region of the Magellan Straits, 1 in New Zealand and the neigh- 

 bouring islands, 1 on Fuegia, the Falkland Islands and the Campbell 

 Islands. 



Juncus, cosmopolitan ; 28 species in South Africa, mostly in the- 

 " coast region " of the Flora Capensis, the majority endemic. 



Luzula, only 1 species in South Africa, 



According to Buchenau (1880, p, 139) the Juncacese are a geologi- 

 cally ancient order ; well-defined groups of Junci are already known 

 from the Miocene. He further characterises Prionium as a primitive 

 type of JuncacecB, so that its occurrence in South Africa and the dis- 

 tribution of its nearest allies is of great interest in connection with 

 our problem. 



Liliace^ 



(mainly after Engler, in Engler-Prantl, Natiirl. Pflanzenfam.). 



I. Melanthioidece. 

 1. TofieldiecB. 

 3 genera in the Northern Hemisphere, 1 on the mountains of 

 British Guiana, 1 in Borneo. 



