HelmkoUzia.] CXXXVII. PHlLYDRACEiE. 1647 



oblong ovate, obtuse or apiculate, recurved, white ; inner ones much smaller, also 

 recurved and obtuse. Stamens slightly curved, filaments very short and stout. 

 Anthers oblong, obtuse, with parallel contiguous cells, connective orange-red at 

 the back. Ovary curved, unequally 8-lobed and 3-celled, quite glabrous ; style 

 slender, and the stigma minute. — Philydnim tjlaberrimwn, Hook. Bot. Mag. 6036. 

 Hab.: Southern localitiea, Rev. B. ScortechinL 



Order CXXXYIII. XYRIDE^. 



Flowers sessile in the rigid dark brown imbricating bracts of a terminal head 

 or spike, bisexual. Bracteoles (sepals ?) 3, deciduous, scarious, embracing the 

 claws of the petals, 2 lateral, 1 broader dorsal often hooded. Petals 3, clawed, 

 claw erect spreading, limb golden yellow, marcescent. Stamens 3, inserted at 

 the bases of the petals, included ; anther sagittate, staminodia 3, alternating 

 with the inner segments, filiform, bearded or antheriferous, sometimes wanting. 

 Ovary free, imperfectly 3-celled ; placentas 3, many-ovulate, basal and confluent 

 or parietal ; style trifid, stigmas capitate or dilated ; ovules anatropous. Capsule 

 loculicidally 3-valved, or with the top circumsciss. Seeds numerous, linear or 

 oblong. Albumen floury. Embryo minute. — Erect, tufted, rush-like, 

 scapigerous herbs. Stem short, simple. Leaves radical, elongate, narrowly 

 linear, flat or terete, sheath short. Scape stout or slender, stiff as long or longer 

 than the leaves, terete angular, or compressed. 



1. XYRIS, Linn. 



(From the Greek, leafpoints of some species sharp.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite,, sessile within 2 opposite persistent navicular 

 bracteoles by some considered as outer perianth-segments. True perianth with a 

 short tube, the limb divided into 4 segments, 1 outer anterior 1 thin and almost 

 petal-like or somewhat scarious, very broad, completely enveloping the inner 

 segments, but becoming detached at the base and cast off as the flower expands, 

 S inner broad yellow petal-like spreading segments, withering after flowering. 

 Perfect stamens 3, opposite the inner segments, attached to their base and 

 shorter than them ; anthers erect, sagittate, with 2 cells opening laterally in 

 longitudinal slits somewhat turned outwards ; staminodia usually 3, alternating 

 with the inner segments, short and filiform, with a terminal tuft of jointed hairs 

 or an imperfect anther, or in some species wholly deficient. Ovary sessile, 

 imperfectly 3-celled ; ovules numerous on 3 placentas, either basal and confluent 

 ■or elongated parietal and quite distinct, or sometimes separating from the sides 

 of the ovary except at the base and apex. Style single, divided at the end into 3 

 spreading branches, each terminating in a capitate or dilated stigma. Capsule 

 :globular or ovoid, often 3-furrowed, opening loculicidaly in 3 valves or sometimes 

 ■circumsciss, the hardened apex falling off entire. Seeds small and numerous, 

 linear or oblong, usually striate ; embryo lenticular, applied to the extremity of 

 the albumen furthest from the liilum. — Tufted perennials or rarely annuals. 

 Leaves radical or surrounding the base of the scape or stem, linear and grass-like 

 ■or rigid and subulate or rush-like. Flowers solitary and sessile within imbricate 

 rigid glume-like scales, forming a terminal head or short spike on a simple 

 .leafless scape, the outer bracts of the head usually empty and in some varieties of 

 •various species somewhat enlarged into a small involucre. 



The genus is widely spread over the warmer regions both of the New and the Old World. 



I have described the 2 outer navicular scarious or glume-like organs outside the perianth as 

 bracteoles from their position at the base of the perianth as well as from their consistence and 

 persistence, whilst the broad segment enveloping the inner ones is evidently the real outer 

 Derianth. heine nlaced like the inner segments at the apex of the tube. — Benth. 



