174 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



3. Juncacese. The Rushes grow in temperate and 

 cold regions. They are herbaceous and grass-like, often 

 leafless, with inconspicuous green or dry flowers. The 

 perianth is glume-like, six-parted, stamens six (or three), 

 and pistil three-carpelled. The order includes about two 

 hundred and fifty species of which the Rushes (Juneus) 

 are used extensively in making mats, chair-bottoms, 

 baskets, hassocks, etc. A curious aquatic plant of South 

 Africa, with serrated leaves two or three feet long, has a 

 stem, composed of a firm fibre, capable of conversion into 

 paper ; it has been also used for brushes. The Asphodel 

 (J^artheeiwm osd/ragum) is cultivated for ornament. 



4. Liliaceae. The Lily family contains mostly herba- 

 ceous plants, with showy flowers and entire leaves. The 

 flowers are perfect, regular, and six-parted (rarely four- 

 parted), stamens perigynous, ovary superior, and fruit a, 

 capsule or berry. There are about two thousand species 

 found in all climates; some of them furnish food, others 

 medicine, and many of them are very fine ornamental 

 plants. The Onion (Allium Cepa), from the Mediterra- 

 nean region, is cultivated all over the world. Asparagus 

 {Aaparagtm officinalis), native of Europe and Asia, was 

 cultivated by the Romans before the Christian Era. In 

 this long period of cultivation it has exhibited but little 

 variation. The curious Grass Gum-trees {Xanthorrhcea) of 

 Australia, six to ten feet high, with . grass-like leaves, 

 yield a fragrant resin, and contain an abundance of picric 

 acid. The latter is used in dyeing silk and wool yellow. 

 The gum resin is made into candles, used in some churches 

 as incense. Aloes is the inspissated juice of several species 

 of Aloe. This genus contains about one hundred and fifty 

 species, mostly from South Africa and adjacent islands. 



