Genus i. 



BLOODWORT FAMILY. 



53 1 



About g genera and 35 species, mostly natives of South Africa and Australia, a few in tropical 

 America ; only the following genus in the north temperate zone. 



i. GYROTHECA Salisb. Trans. Hort. Soc. 1 : 327. 1812. 

 [Lachnanthes Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1 : 47. 1816.] 



A rather stout herb, with a short rootstock, red fibrous roots and equitant leaves, the 

 basal ones longer than those of the stem. Flowers numerous, yellowish, small, in a dense 

 terminal woolly cymose panicle. Perianth 6-parted to the summit of the ovary, the outer 

 segments smaller than the inner. Filaments filiform, longer than the perianth; anthers 

 linear-oblong, versatile. Ovary 3-celled; ovules few in each cavity, borne on fleshy pla- 

 centae; style very slender, declined. Capsule enclosed by the withering-persistent perianth, 

 nearly globular, 3-valved. Seeds about 6 in each cavity, flattened, nearly orbicular, peltate. 

 [Greek, referring to the round fruit] 



A monotypic genus of southeastern North America and the West Indies. 



1. Gyrotheca tinctoria (Walt.) Salisb. 

 Red root. Paint root. Fig. 1319. 



Gyrotheca tinctoria Salisb. Trans. Hort. Soc. 1 : 



327. 1812. 

 Lachnanthes tinctoria Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1 : 47. 



1816. 

 Gyrotheca capitata Morong. Bull. Torr. Club 20: 



472. 1893. Not Anonymo capitata Walt. 



Stem iJ°.-2i° tall, glabrous below, pubescent 

 or woolly above. Leaves 2"-s" wide, acumi- 

 nate, the basal ones shorter than the stem, the 

 upper reduced to bracts; panicle 2'-s' broad 

 when expanded, dense and almost capitate 

 when young, white-woolly; flowers 4"-S" 

 broad, bracteolate, the perianth yellow and 

 glabrous within; style about as long as the 

 stamens ; pedicels stout, about as long as die 

 capsule, rather shorter than the bractlets; cap- 

 sule about 3" in diameter. 



In swamps, eastern Massachusetts to New Jer- 

 sey and Florida, mostly in pine barrens near the 

 coast. Also in Cuba. Carolina or Indian red- 

 root. Spirit-weed. July-Sept. 



Family 27. AMARYLLIDACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2: 328. 1836. 



Amaryllis Family. 

 Perennial herbs (some tropical species woody or even arboreous), with bulbs 

 or rootstocks, scapose or sometimes leafy stems and usually narrow and entire 

 leaves. Flowers perfect, regular or nearly so. Perianth 6-parted or 6-lobed, the 

 segments or lobes distinct, or united below into a tube which is adnate to the 

 surface of the ovary (adnate only to the lower part of the ovary in Lophiola). 

 Stamens 6 in our genera, inserted on the bases of the perianth-segments or in 

 the throat of the perianth opposite the lobes. Anthers versatile or basifixed, 

 2-celled, the sacs usually longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary wholly or partly infe- 

 rior, usually 3-celled. Style filiform, entire, lobed, or divided into 3 stigmas at 

 the summit. Ovules usually numerous, rarely only 1 or 2 in each cavity of the 

 ovary, anatropous. Fruit capsular, rarely fleshy. Seeds mostly black, the em- 

 bryo small, enclosed in fleshy endosperm. 



About 70 genera and 800 species, principally natives of tropical and warm regions, some in the 

 temperate zones. 

 Bulbous herbs with flowers on scapes. 



Flower solitary (in our species) ; perianth with a crown. 1. Narcissus. 



Flower solitary; perianth without a crown.j 



Anthers versatile ; tube of the perianth not greatly elongated. 2. Atamasco. 



Anthers erect ; tube of the perianth several times the length of its lobes. 3. Cooperia. 



Flowers clustered; perianth with a membranous crown connecting the lower parts of the fila- 

 ments. 4. Hymenocallis. 

 Bulbless herbs, with rootstocks or corms. 



Perianth adnate to the whole surface of the ovary ; leaves mostly basal. 



Tall, fleshy-leaved ; anthers versatile. 5- Manfreda. 



Low, linear-leaved ; anthers not versatile. 6. Hypoxis. 



Perianth adnate only to the lower part of the ovary ; stem leafy ; flowers woolly. 7. Lophiola. 



