Monocotyledones. 19 



Dragon. Leaves pedately divided into 5-17 segments. Spadix long and taper- 

 ing, exceeding the greenish or whitish, narrow, convolute, and pointed spathe. 

 Rich woods or low grounds. 



COMMELINACE.^;. Spiderwort Family. 



Stems herbaceous and jointed ; leaves lanceolate, linear, or ovate, 

 sheathing the stem at the base, parallel veined. Roots perennial, 

 tibrous, or thickened. Flowers usually perfect, consisting of 3 per- 

 sistent green sepals, and 3 blue, purple, or rose-colored, ephemeral 

 petals, 6 stamens, and a single 2-3-celled superior ovary, containing 

 3-several ovules, and surmounted by a single undivided style. Fruit 

 a 2-3-celled capsule. 



I. TRADESCANTIA. Spiderwort. 



(Tradescant, gardener to Charles I. of England.) 



Stems upright, nearly simple, and mucilaginous, bearing keeled leaves. Flowers 

 crowded in terminal or axillary umbels; filaments bearded. 



1. Tradescantia Virginica, L. Common Spiderwort. Leaves linear or 

 linear-lanceolate, flat or channeled, sometimes i foot or more long; stems varying 

 in height from about 8 inches to 3 feet; leaflike bracts subtending the inflores- 

 cence. Flowers of various shades of blue and purple, from i to 2 inches broad. 

 Rich ground. 



2. Tradescantia rbsea, Vent. (L., rosetis, rosy; from rosa, a rose.) Leaves 

 narrowly linear and grasslike ; stems erect, from 6 to 12 inches tall ; bracts below 

 the flowers short and scarious; umbels on long terminal peduncles; rose-colored 

 corolla from J to I inch broad. In dry and sandy woods. 



I,ILIACE.a;. Lily Family. 



Herbs, perennial by means of bulbs, corms, or rootstocks ; rarely 

 woody plants. Flowers regular and symmetrical ; perianth consisting 

 of 6 distinct or nearly distinct segments, which (excepting in Trillium) 

 are colored nearly alike ; stamens 6, borne on or at the base of the 

 perianth, i before each of its segments. Ovary superior, 3-celIed. 

 Fruit a loculicidal capsule or a berry. 



Woody climbers. Smilax I. 



Not woody climbers. 

 Flowers umbellate on naked scapes, — 

 Having the odor of onions. Allium II. 



Not having the odor of onions. Nothoscordum III. 



Flowers in racemes or spikes on naked scapes, — 



Divisions of the perianth separate nearly or quite to the base. Camassia IV. 



Divisions of the perianth united into a tube below. Hvacinthus V. 



