46 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
The Family Philydraceae is a small group consisting of a single 
genus and four species, natives of the Indian archipelago. 
Fie. 40.—Spiderwort, Tradescantia brevicaulis. 
CHAPTER IX. 
Order Liliiflorae. 
This large and comprehensive group may be distinguished in the 
main by having flowers with the six. divisions of the perianth nearly 
uniform in color and texture. It contains eight families, some of 
them being among the largest of monoctyledonous groups, 
