468 AMAEYLLIDACE^. (aMAKTLLIS FAMILY.) 



3. CRINUM, L. 



Tube of the perianth crownless at the apex. Otherwise like Pancratium both 

 in character and habit. 



1. C. Americanum, L. Leaves strap-shaped, concave, obtuse, remotely 

 denticulate, spreading; scape compressed, with rounded edges, 2-4-flowered; 

 bracts lanceolate recurved ; ovaries sessile, with a linear bractlet at tlie base of 

 each ; flowers large, fragrant ; leaves of the perianth white, lanceolate, shorter 

 than the green tube ; filaments and style purple above ; stigma truncate, entire ; 

 ovules 3 in each cell, erect ; capsule globose, membranaceous, indehiscent ; 1 - 6- 

 seeded, pointed with the long persistent tube of the perianth ; seed large, corm- 

 Uke; embryo oblong, in the axis of copious fleshy albumen; radicle inferior. — 

 River-swamps, Florida, and westward. May 7 Sept. Scape 1°- 2° high. Peri- 

 anth 6' - 8' long. 



4. AGAVE, L. 



Perianth corolla-like, funnel-shaped, 6-parted, persistent. Stamens cxserted : 

 anthers linear, versatile. Style filiform, exserted : stigma 3-angled or 3-lobed. 

 Capsule coriaceous, 3-lobed, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved, many-seeded. Seeds 

 flat, black and shining, attached to the central placentse. — Scape bracted. 

 Leaves fleshy, spiny or cartilaginous on the margins. ITlowers in simple or 

 panicled spikes, bracted. 



1. A. Virginiea, L. Leaves lanceolate, thick and rigid, spine-pointed, 

 denticulate on the margins ; scape simple, smooth ; flowers small, yellowish, 

 scattered in a simple spike ; perianth strongly nerved; filaments and style spotted. 

 — Sterile soil, Florida, and northward. July. — Scape 3° -5° high. Leaves 

 6'- 12' long. Capsule globose, 3-lobed. 



5. HYPOXYS, L. Stak-geass. 



Perianth 6-parted, persistent, the spreading divisions colored within. Stamens 

 short, unequal : anthers erect. Ovary 3-celled, with the numerous amphitropous 

 ovules attached to the central placentae in two rows. Style short and thick : 

 stigmas 3. Capsule top-shaped, many-seeded, opening transversely near the 

 summit, the upper portion, with the withered perianth, falling off like a lid. 

 Seeds globular, with a beak-like projection near the base. Kadicle inferior — 

 Low pubescent herbs, from a tuberous root, with grass-like leaves, and a naked 

 scape, bearing the few yellow flowers in a terminal bracted umbel. 



1. H. erecta, L. Hairy; leaves linear, channelled ; scapes 1-4, filiform, 

 2 - 4-fiowered ; bracts subulate, much shorter than the slender unequal pedicels ; 

 divisions of the perianth oblong, greenish and hairy without, yellow withm ; cap • 

 sule 8-celled. — Varies, with the more rigid leaves nearly smooth, the 2-3-flow- 

 ered scape flattened, and the bristle-like bracts longer than the nearly sessile 

 almost woolly perianth. — Low ground, Florida, and northward. March and 

 April. — Scapes 2' - 9' long. Leaves at length much longer than the scape. 

 Flowers 8" wide. • 



