338 I.ILT FAMILY. 



§ 1. Slemless ; the large flower with a long tube rising direetly from a thin-coated 

 solid bulb or corm: anthers 2-celled. 



3. COLCHICUM. Perianth resembling that of a Crocus. Stamens borne on the 

 throat of the long-tubular perianth. Styles yery long. 



§ 2. Periardh without any tube, of% distinct or almost separate divisions. 



« Anihers ^-celled, short: flowers in a simple raceme or spilce : pod loculicidal, 



i. CHAMjELIKIUM. Flowers dioecious or mostly so. Perianth of 6 small and 



narrow white pieces. Pod ovoid-oblong, many-seeded. Spike or raceme 



slender. 

 B. HELONIAS. Flowers perfect, in a short dense raceme, lilac-purple, turning 



gi'een in fruit; the divisions spatulate-oblong, spreading. Filaments slender: 



anthers blue. Pod 3-lobed ; cells many-seeded. 

 6. XEEOPHYLLUM. Flowers perfect, in a compact raceme, white ; the divisions 



oval, sessile, widely spreading, naked. Filaments awl-shaped. Pod globular, 



3-lobed, with 2 wingless seeds in each cell. 



* * Anihers Mdney-shaped or rownd heart-shaped, the ttoo ceHs confluent into one, 

 shidd-shnped after opening: styles awlshaped ; pod S-korned, seplicidal: seeds 

 commonly Jiat or thin-margined. 



?. AMIANTHIUM. Flowers perfect, mostly in a simple raceme. Perianth white, 

 the oval or obovate spreading divisions without claws or spots. Filaments 

 long and slender. Seeds wingless, 1 - 4 in each cell. Leaves chiefly from the 

 bulbous base of the scape-like stem, linear, keeled, grass-like. 



8. STENANTHIUM. Flowers polygamous, in panioled racemes on a leafy stem. 



Perianth white, with spreading and not spotted lanceolate divisions tapering 

 to a naiTow point ii-om a broader base, which coheres with the base of the 

 ovary. Stamens very short. Seeds several, wingless. Leaves linear, keeled, 

 grass-like. , 



9. VEEATEUM. Flowers polygamous, in panicled racemes. Perianth greenish 



or brownish, its obovate-oblong divisions narrowed at base, free from the 

 ovary, not spotted. Filaments short. Seeds rather numerous, wing-margined. 

 Leaves broad, many-nerved. Base of the leafy stem more or less bulb-like, 

 producing many long white roots. 



10. MELANTHIUM. Flowers polygamous, in racemes forming an open pyramidal 



panicle. Perianth cream-colored, turning green or brownish with age, per- 

 fectly free from the ovary, its hearl>shaped or oblong and partly halberd- 

 shaped widely spreading divisions raised on a claw and marked with a pair 

 of darker spots or glands. Filaments short, adhering to the claws of the 

 perianth, persistent. Seeds several in each cell, broadly winged. Leaves 

 lanceolate or linear, mostly grass-like. Stem roughish-downy above, its 

 base more or less bulbous. 



11. ZYGADENUS. Flowers pefect or polygamous, in a terminal panicle. Peri- 



anth greenish white, its oblong or ovate widely spreading divisions spotted 

 with a pair of roundish glands or colored spots near the sessile or almost 

 sessile base. Stamens free from and about the length of the perianth. Leaves 

 linear, grass-like ; stem and whole plant smooth. 



III. BELL WORT FAMILY; with alternate and broad not 

 grass-like parallel-veined leaves : stem from a rootstock or from 

 fibrous roots, branching and leafy : style one at the base, but 3-cleft 

 or 3-parted. Fruit a pod, few-seeded. Anthers turned rather 

 outwards than inwards. Perianth of 6 almost similar and wholly 

 separate pieces, deciduous. Not acrid nor poisonous. Plants inter- 

 mediate between the preceding groups and the next. 



12. UVULAELA. Flowers solitary or sometimes in pairs at the end or in the forks 



of the forking stem, droopmg, yellowish; the perianth rather bell-shaped 

 and lily-like, its divisions spatulate-Ianceolate, with a honey-bearing groove 

 or pit at the erect narrowed base. Stamens short, one at the base of each 

 division : anthers linear, much longer than the filariients. Pod ti-iangular or 

 3-lobed, loculicidal from the top. Seeds thick and roundish. 



