1602 CXXX. IRIDACE^. 



SuBTEiEE II. Aristeae. — Rootstock sometimes very short, the fibrous roots in fascicles^ 

 creeping at times or forming erect woody stems. Feriauth-tube more or less ovolute. Cafsuler 

 vwst frequently included in the spatha. 



Spikes solitary and terminal, the outer bracts enclosing 2 sessile spikelets. 

 The 3 outer perianth segments large, 3 inner very small 3. Patebsonia. 



1. LIBERTIA, Spreng. 



(After Mademoiselle M. A. Libert de Malmidy). 



(Kenealmia, B. Br. ; Nematostigma, Dietr.) 



Perianth regular, divided to the ovary into 6 nearly equal spreading segments. 

 Filaments free ; anthers linear-sagittate. Style shorter than the filaments, with 

 3 linear-subulate spreading branches, stigmatie and minutely toothed or fringed 

 at the end. Capsule ovoid or globular, 3-valved, the pericarp thin. — Herbs with 

 a short often very short leafy base, and grass-like flat leaves almost radical) 

 though distichous. Flowering stems erect, simple or branched, with 1 or 2; 

 leaves below the inflorescence. Flowers clustered in the axils of sheathing 

 bracts, each flower on a slender pedicel, opposed to a bract as in other Iridea, but 

 the shortness of the rhachis of the cluster, and the length of the pedicels give- 

 the cluster the appearance of an umbel, and occasion some difficulty in tracing 

 its real structure on the dried specimens. The inspection of fresh specimens- 

 however, prove it very clearly to be in conformity with the rest of the order. 



The genus extends to New Zealand and extratropical South America. 



1. la. paniculata (paniculate), Spreivj. Syst. i. 168 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vi> 

 413. Rhizome and leafy base of the stem very short. Leaves almost radical, 

 grass-like, flaccid, f to IJft. long and mostly about B lines broad. Stem 1 to 

 IJffc. high, with sometimes a short leaf below the inflorescence. Panicle oblong 

 loose and irregular, occupying often half the stem, glabrous as well as the wholfr 

 plant or the pedicels slightly glandular-pubescent. Bracts membranous-scarious,. 

 the lower ones rather long and acuminate, those subtending the flowers 3 to 4 

 lines long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or acute. Flower-clusters umbel- 

 like, the pedicels 3 to 4 lines long when in flower, at least twice as long under 

 the fruits. Ovary obovoid, about IJ line long under the flower. Perianth- 

 segments about 4 lines long, ovate, spreading, the inner ones larger than tha- 

 outer. Filaments dilated at the base but not united. Style column very short, 

 with 3-linear-subulate spreading branches, minutely fringed at the end. Capsule- 

 ovoid-globular, 3 to 4 lines diameter. — SisyrincJikim pankulatum, R. Br. Prod. 

 305; F. V. M. Fragm. vii. 91; Renealmia paniculata, R. Br. Prod. Addenda;. 

 Ncmatostii/nm puniculatum , Dietr. Sp. PI. ii. 510. 



Hab.: Met with in the creeks ot the Southern Eanges. 



2. SISYRINCHIUM, Linn. 

 (So called from pigs grubbing up the roots of some species.) 



Perianth regular, the tube very short, the limb of 6 nearly equal spreading 

 segments. Filaments united to above the middle or rarely at the base only;, 

 anthers oblong or lanceolate. Style shorter than the filaments, with 8 linear or 

 subulate spreading branches, stigmatie at the end. Capsule ovoid or. globular, 

 3-valved, the pericarp rather thin. — Herbs with fibrous roots, and a very short 

 tufted stock, or rarely annuals. Stem erect, often branched, usually 2-edged. 

 Leaves mostly or all radical, narrow. Flowers on slender pedicels, clustered 

 within 2 sheathing herbaceous bracts, the outermost one subtending the cluster- 

 on the main axis, the second outer bract and the inner membranous ones each 

 opposed to a pedicel within \^~ -i""'^"'- fmitino- i-iriUppIs pyserted from the bracts.. 



The genus is widely spread ove 



