AMAEYLLIDACEAE (AMARYLLIS FAMILY) 297 



leaves ; inflorescence and upper part of the stem whitened with soft matted 

 wool. Perianth-lobes naked only toward the tip, each clothed with a woolly tuft 

 near the base (whence the name, from Xo0i(i, a crest). 



1. L. aiirea Ker. Perianth-segments dull yellow within, (i. americana 

 Coville.) — Boggy pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. June-Aug. 



DIOSCOREACEAE (Yam Family) 



Plants with twining stems from large tuberous roots or knotted rootstocks, 

 and ribbed and netted-^eined petioled leaves, small dioecious 6-androus and 

 regular flowers, with the G-cleft calyx-like perianth adherent in the fertile plant 

 to the ^-celled ovary. Styles 3, distinct. — Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, anatropous. 

 Fruit usually a membranaceous 3-angled or -vringed capsule. 



1. DIOSCOREA [Plumier] L. Yam 



Flowers very small, in axillary panicles or racemes. Capsule loculioidally 

 3-valved by splitting through the winged angles. Seeds flat, with a membrana- 

 ceous wing. (Dedicated to the Greek naturalist, Dioscorides.) 



1. D. villbsa L. (Wild Yam-root.) Herbaceous; stems slender, from 

 knotty and matted rootstooks, twining over bushes ; leaves mostly alternate, 

 sometimes nearly opposite or in fours, more or less downy beneath, heart-shaped, 

 conspicuously pointed, 9-11-ribbed ; flowers pale greenish-yellow, the sterUe in 

 drooping panicles, the fertile in drooping simple racemes ; capsules 1.6-2.5 mm. 

 long. — Thickets, s. N. B. to Fla., w. to Ont. , Minn., Kan., and Tex. — Ac- 

 cording to C G. Lloyd the typical villous-leaved form has a matted rootstook 

 the divisions of which are scarcely thicker than the stems. He distinguishes, as 

 var. glXbra Lloyd, a form with a thick knotted rootstock and glabrous leaves. 

 This form or possibly state, occurring in Ky. and probably elsewhere, is said 

 to be inferior for pharmaceutical use. The relation between the smooth foliage 

 and thickened rootstock does not, however, appear to be definite. 



AMARYLLIDAcEAE (Amaryllis Family) 



Chiefly bulbous and scape-bearing herbs, not scurfy or looolly, vjith linear flat 

 root-leaves, and regular (or nearly so) and perfect 6-androus flowers, the tube 

 of the corolline 6-parted perianth coherent imth the 3-celled ovary ; the lobes im- 

 bricated in the bud. — Anthers introrse. Style single. Capsule 3-celled, several- 

 many-seeded. Seeds anatropous or nearly so, with a straight embryo in the axis 

 of fleshy albumen. 



* Fruit a 3-valved locuUcidal capsule ; plant glabrous. 

 4- Perianth with a conspicuous crown in the throat. 



1. Hymenocallis. Perianth-tube slender, the lobes narrow, recurved ; a cup-shaped crown con- 



necting the filaments. 



2. ITarcissuS. Perianth-tube produced at the base of the spreading ovate lobes into a true 



crown. Filaments without a connecting cup. 



-H +- Perianth naked in the throat. 

 ++ Low bulbous plants with- 1-flowered scapes. 



3. Zephyranthes. Anthers versatile on filiform somewhat elongated filaments ; tube of the 



perianth shorter than the throat and limb. 



4. Cooperia. Anthers dorsifixed near the base; filaments short ; tube of the perianth much ex 



ceeding the throat and limb. 



++ ++ Tall, not bulbous ; flowers spicate. 



5. Agave. Perianth equally 6-cleft, without crown ; leaves fleshy. 



* * Fruit indehiscent; anthers sagittate ; plant villous. 

 G. Hypoxis. Perianth 6-parted nearly down to the ovary, persistent ; bulb solid. 



