332 CLVi. LiLiACEiE. (J. D. Hooker.) 



13. ASPKODEXiUS> Linn. 



Annual, or perennial, root-flbres slender or fleshy. Leaves radical, 

 linear, triquetrous, or terete and fistular. Flowers racemed, solitary in 

 the bracts. Perianth white, marcescent, 6-partite, segments conniving in 

 a tube below. Stamens 6, hypogynous ; filaments dilated at the base and 

 embracing the ovary, inserted in a pit of the dorsifixed versatile anther. 

 Ovary 3-celled ; style filiform, stigma sub-3-lobed ; ovules 2 collateral in 

 each cell. Capsule usually 1-seeded, loculicidal. Seeds 3-qnetrous, testa 

 black appressed ; embryo nearly as long as the cartilaginous albumen. — 

 Species 6 or 7, S. Europe and eastward to India. 



1. A. tenulfolius, Cavan. in Anal. Ciena. Nat. iii. 46, t. 27 ; and 



Icon. t. 587, f. 2; annual, leaves slender semi-terete fistular and scape 

 smooth or papillosely soaberulous, pedicels jointed below the middle, 

 perianth-segments white with a brownish costa, filaments fusiform to- 

 wards the tip. Kunth Unwm. iv. 558. A. sestivus, Reichb. Ic. Crit. t. 

 451. A. microcarpus, Beichb. Ic. Fl. Cferm. t. 513. A. olavatus, Boxb. 

 Fl. Ind. ii. 148; Wall. Gat. 5058; Kunth I.e. 559. A. parviflorus, 

 Wight Ic. t. 2062 (bad. pauciflorus, in text vi. p. 27.). A. fistulosus, 

 var. tenuifolius, Baker in Journ. Linn. Sac. xv. 272. A. tenuifolius, var. 

 micranthus, Boiss. Fl. Or. v. 314. 



Plains of India, in fields, from Bengal westwards to Gazerat and the Punjab. 

 — DiSTRiB. Westward to the Canary Islds. 



Leaves 6-12 in., erect, about -^ in. diam., acuminate. Scape lj-3 ft., terete, 

 often excessively scopariously branched. Racemes lax-fld. ; pedicels |— ^ in. 

 Perianth-segments i in. long. Capsule globose, i in. diam., valves deeply wrinkled. 

 Seeds trigonous, with 3-4 dorsal ridges and as many lateral pits. — Probably as 

 Bilker considers it, a form of the European A. fistulosus, but always much smaller, 

 especially the flowers, and with the pedicel jointed below the middle. Wight's 

 figure is very incorrect as regards the filaments, he is unable to give any locality 

 for the specimen figured, which he supposes is from the sandy soils of the East 

 Coast of the Deccan. 



2. A. comosus, Baker in Oard. Chron. 1887, i. 799 ; leaves ensiform 

 18 by lA in., peduncle very stout, racemes panicled dense-fid. 



Lahul, in the Eolang Pass, JaescKke. 



Habit of A. albus and ramosus. Leaves rather thick. Peduncle 2 ft. ; 

 panicle 1 ft., pedicels ^i in., oscendinp, jointed below the middle ; bracts J in., 

 much longer, scaiious. Flowers 1-1^ in. diam. ; segments linear-oblong, white 

 with a green keel. Stamens i in. longer than the perianth ; style as lono'. 



14. EXlEnxVRUS, Bieberst. 



Stately herbs, with the characters of Asphodelus, from which the 

 genus differs only in the usually more numerous ovules. — Species about 

 20, oriental and Northern Asian. 



1. E. hlmalaicus, Baker in Journ. Linn. Sac. xv. 283 ; glabrous, 

 bracts subulate-lanceolate equalling the pedicels, flowers vrhite, filaments' 

 as long as the perianth, capsule rugose, seeds not winged. 



ward 



Tempeeate Western Himaiata, in the drier regions, from the Sutlei west, 

 ds, alt. 7-10,000 ft.— Distbib. Eastern Turkestan. •* 



