Sansevieria.] cl. h/emodoeack«. • (J. D. Hooker.) 271 



? Ceylon. — Distbib. ? Tropical Africa. 



Lecnes 1-li in. broad at the base, very thickly fleshy and hard, margins scarious. 

 Scape 1-2 ft., with distant scarious sheaths ; bracts -J in. long ; pedicels short ; 

 perianth IJ in. diam. — The above description accords with Baker's, and with the 

 plant figured in The Botanical Register, of which th<) origin is uncertain, but which 

 has long been cultivated as a native of Ceylon. It is stated to inhabit also Tropical 

 and South Africa ; which is more probably its native country. 



2. S. Rozburg'hiana, Sc.kuU.fil. Syst. vii. 357; leaves 1-2 ft. nar- 

 rowly linear-eusiform narrowed towards the base semiterete channelled 

 above green faintly clouded with black, scape slender, raceme elongate. 

 flowers ^ in. long. Kunth Enum. v. 18 ; Baker, in Journ. Linn. 8oc, xiv. 

 549. S. zeylanica, Borb. PI. Cor. ii. 45, t. 18i ; Fl. Ind. ii. 161.—? Rheede 

 Sort. Mai. xi. t. 42. — Moorva, As. Ses. iv. 271. 



CoEOMANDEL CoAST, Roxburgh. 



According to Roxburgh's drawing (at Kew) this is a very difierent species from 

 8. zeylanica, with fewer very much longer and much narrower leaves reaching 4 ft. 

 in length, 1 in. broad, narrower at the base and not nearly so deeply channelled ; 

 the scape is more slender with few narrowly lanceolate sheaths, the raceme much 

 longer and the flowers smaller. — Whether it is Rheede'.s xi. t. 42, which grows in 

 sandy places on the Malabar coast, is doubtful. B.oxburgh describes it as cultivated 

 for its fibre. I suspect that it is the only species indigenous to India and is confined 

 to the Western Peninsula and Ceylon, wild or cultivated. 



Order CLI. IRXDEH:. 



Perennial herbs; rootstock various. Leaves narrow, often distichous 

 and equitant. Flowers 2-bracteate. Perianth superior, petaloid, segments 

 6-biseriate, imbricating. Stamens 3, epigynous, or aduate to the outer 

 perianth-segments ; anthers often narrow, extrorse. Ovary 3-celled ; style 

 simple ; stigmas 3, simple or petaloid or variously cleft ; ovules many, 

 2-seriate in the inner angles of the cells, anatropous. Capsule trigonous, 

 3-celled, looulicidal. Seeds many, testa thin or coriaceous ; embryo 

 immersed in the albumen, short, cylindric. — Genera 57, species about 700, 

 chiefly temperate. 



Tribe I. Mokb^. , Stamens opposite to and shorter than the petaloid 

 £tyle-arms. 



Stigmatic surface on the back of the petaloid style-arms .... 1. Ibis, 



Tribe II. Skyeinchib^. Stamens alternating with the style-arms. 



Eootstock a tunicate corm ; stem ; perianth-tube long 



slender 1. Csoous. 



Rootstock creeping ; stem erect ; perianth-tube very short . 2. Bblamcanda. 



1. XRZS; Linn. ' 



RootstocTc bulbous or creeping. Leaves equitant, ensiform. Perianth- 

 tube long or short, segments large, outer (sepals) largest, stipitate, reflexed, 

 inner (petals) usually smaller, suberect or reflexed. Stamens inserted at 

 the base of the outer segments ; anthers linear, basifixed. Ovary 

 3-gonous ; style stout ; stigmas petaloid, arching over the stamens, 2-fid 

 and with a transverse dorsal crest, stigmatic surface a point below the 

 crest. Capsule coriaceous, 3- or 6-ribbed. Seeds flat or globose, testa 

 coriaceous or fleshy. — Species about 100, North temperate regions. 



