Miisa.] CXXVIII. SCITAMINE^. 1590 



sub-4-angled, pale-yellowish. Calyx-teeth short, obtuse, 2-lateral rather the 

 largest, those of the median tipped terminating in thickened rugose, spindle- 

 shaped prolongation of the midrib ; 2 intermediate much the smallest. Petals 

 linear-oblong, obtuse, J shorter than the calyx. Anthers pale pink, about as 

 long as the filaments. Female flowers pentandrous. Perianth shorter than in 

 the male. Ovary short, ovoid, 3-gonous. Style clavate, stigma 3-lobed. Fruit 



2 to 2^in. long, sessile, ovoid, acutely angled, truncate, fleshy. Seeds numerous, 



3 to 4 lines in diameter, much depressed ; testa black. — Hook. Bot. Mag. 7401 ; 

 J. G. Baker in Ann. Bot. vii. 217, also Kew Bull. (1894). 



Hab.: Daintree Eiver, E. Fitzalan, C. Adams and others. 



Ordek CXXIX. H^MODORACE.ffi. 



Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or slightly irregular. Perianth usually more 

 •or less woolly, persistent or at length deciduous, segments 6, 2-serrate, stamens 1 

 to each segment or opposite the inner 8 only, filaments filiform. Anthers ovate, 

 oblong or linear, often sagittate. Ovary-inferior or semi-inferior, 3-celled or 

 •occasionally 1-celled. Style filiform. Ovules solitary or few. Capsule 3-valved. 



Tribe I. XSuhaeinodoreae. — Perianth glabrous, divided to the ovary into distinctly 2- 

 seriate segments. Stigmas very small. Leaves laterally flattened or terete. Inflorescence com- 

 pound or rarely simply racemose. 

 Stamens 3. Ovules 2 in each cell. Capsule almost superior 3-dymous ... 1. Htemodorum. 



Tribe II. Ophiopog'onese. — Ovary cells 1 to 2 ovulate. 

 Filaments short, free. Perianth short superior 2* OrnioroooN. 



1. H.ffiMODORUM, Sm. 

 (From the plant giving a red colour.) 

 Perianth persistent, divided to the ovary into 6 segments, all nearly equal or 

 the outer ones shorter. Stamens 3, inserted at the base of the inner segments, 

 which in the open flower are usually convolute round the filaments at the base. 

 'Ovary entirely or almost entirely inferior, the broad summit either flat or with 3 

 slight protuberances, 3-celled, or with 2 ovules in each cell. Style simple, obtuse, 

 •entire or obscurely 8-furrowed at the stigmatic end. Capsule half or almost 

 entirely superior, the free part 3-dymous and opening in 3 loculicidal slits. Seeds 

 •ovate, flat, with a wing-like margin, peltately attached to a prominent placenta. — ■ 

 Erect glabrous herbs, the base of the stem or rhizome sometimes thickened and 

 enclosed in the persistent sheathing base of the leaves so as to resemble narrow 

 bulbs, the fibrous roots sometimes very thick and spongy and often red. Leaves 

 sheathing and equitant at the base, the lamina laterally flattened or terete, the 

 lower ones sometimes very long, the upper ones few and short. Flowers black, 

 red, of a livid green, or perhaps in some of the small flowered species yellow, usually 

 fragrant, in clusters compound beads cymes loose panicles or interrupted spikes, 

 with a bract under each branch or pedicel, and usually 2 on each pedicel even 

 when very short. 



The genus is limited to Australia. 

 -Flowers greenish-purple, perianth segments nearly equal, about 5 lines 

 long, in a compact compound terminal cyme. Leaves flat, 2 to 3 lines 



broad 1. II, planifolium. 



'Outer perianth-segments much shorter than the inner. Flowers red, in a 



terminal cyme. Leaves flat, 2 to 3 lines broad 2. II. coccineum. 



Leaves flat, rigid and glaucous. Flowers loosely racemose along the 



branches of a spreading panicle S, H. ensifolium. 



Leaves terete. Flowers single pedicellate in a dichotomous panicle . i. II. tenuifolium. 



