504 LirjACE^E. [Agraphis. 



recurved. Flowers few, in a short, oblong, subcorymbose cluster, scentless, pale 

 blue, lilac or whitish, on pedicels about their own length, and which become much 

 elongated and erect as the seed ripens ; destitute of bracieas at their base. Seg- 

 ments of the perianth ovate, bluntish, thickened and greenish at the back below 

 the apex. Filaments decidedly enlarged downwards and much flattened, not 

 thread-shaped, all equal; anthers dark red, in 2 distinct oblong lobes. Stigma 

 3-cornered. Germen 6-lobed, with 6 furrows, the intermediate ridges blue. Cap- 

 sules on the lengthened pedicels, erect, obtusely trigonate, 3-celled, each cell 

 exactly filled with the one or mostly two seeds it encloses, their valves strongly 

 veined, widely dehiscing and glabrous. Seeds large, jet-black, transversely 

 wrinkled, rounded at the back, the two inner faces concave, attached to the lower 

 part of a deep dissepiment in the centre of each valve, which, gradually narrow- 

 ing upwards, makes the capsule imperfectly 6-celled. 



The diSerent season of flowering, and absence of bracteas to the pedicels, will 

 readily distinguish this species from S. verna. Unlike that, the present is a, 

 southern plant, neither restricted to the sea-coast nor to the western side of the 

 kingdom ; Caernarvonshire seems to be its limit to the North, on the authority of 

 Kay alone, and it has not yet been detected in Ireland. 



Tribe III. Hemerocallideje. 



" Leaves of the perianth conibined helow. Cells of the capsule 

 few-seeded." — Bab. Man. 



V. Ageaphis, Linli. Hyacinth. 



"Perianth 6 -partite ; sepals connivent below, and forming a 

 campanulate tube, somewhat connected at the base, recurved at 

 the extremity. Stamens 6, inserted below the middle of the pe- 

 rianth, on which the filaments are decurrent ; alternate ones 

 longer and somewhat exserted. Capsule obtusely 3-angled, 

 3-celled, 8-valved at the apex, few-seeded. — Flowers racemose, 

 with memhranaceou^s bracteas at the base of the pedicels." — Br. Fl. 



1. A. nutans, lAnk. Wild English Hyacinth ox Blue-hell. Vect. 

 Blue-bottles. " Flowers in a raceme drooping, sepals revolute at 

 the points, bracteas in pairs, leaves linear." — Br. Fl. p. 437. 

 Scilla, S7n. : E. B. i. 377. Hyacinthus non-scriptus, L. 



Scilla verna, Huds. (Vernal Squill). — The following stations have been given 

 for this plant: — Near Newport, Puliettei/, Bot. Guide. Brading, Dr. Bostoch in 

 Withering, 7th ed. The authenticity of the latter quotation was kindly confirmed 

 by Dr. Bostock, in answer to an inquiry made on the subject by my friend Dr. 

 Bell-Salter in 1839. 



Though the existence of S. verna as an Isle-of- Wight plant rests on such 

 respectable authority, I feel inclined to refuse it admission into these pages, hav- 

 ing never succeeded in finding it in either station, nor have any of my botanical 

 friends been more fortunate than myself. Though common enough on most of 

 our western and north-western shores from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands, it is 

 rarely found on our eastern coasts, except towards the North, where, as at Dun- 

 stanborough Castle, in Northumberland, it has been discovered in abundance 

 (Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist. vi. p. 19). Hence it may naturally be expected to 

 occur in this island, which is nearly on the meridian of that portion of the 

 kingdom. 



