Ji:erotes.] CXLI. JUNCACEiE. 1663 



terete or slightly flattened in the lower portion. Flower-heads usually globular 

 •or ovoid, very dense, about Jin. diameter, either solitary and terminal or with 

 2 or 8 additional ones enclosing the scape at a distance from each other, or rarely 

 2 or 3 united in a cylindrical terminal spike. Bracts subtending the flowers 

 shorter than the perianth, or rarely with subulate points protruding from the 

 iiead before the flowers expand. Soarious bracteoles split low down or quite 

 to the base into very numerous crisped filaments or hairs as long as the perianth, 

 -giving the head a woolly appearance and often described as wool on the 

 receptacle. Perianth infundibuliform, 2J to nearly 3 lines long, with 6 ovate 

 lobes, 3 outer hyaline attached about halfway up the tube, 8 inner ones longer 

 imore petal-like and white about half as long as the tube. Stamens in the males 

 a,ttached immediately below the inner lobes. Ovary rudimentary at the bottom 

 of the tube. Female flower-heads sometimes closely resembling the males, but 

 more frequently forming a continuous spike. Outer perianth-segments rather 

 larger in proportion to the inner. Ovary obovoid, almost stipitate Fruit 

 obovoid, acuminate, hard and shining. — X. Jilamentosa, A. Cunn. MS. ; Brongn. 

 in Duperr. Voy. Bot. 188, t. 35 ; X. typhina, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 

 ii. 41. 



Hab.: On sandy land; Keppel Bay, R. Brown; Port Curtis, M'Glllivraij; Darling Downs* 

 Laic ; Curriwillighie, Dalton ; Bojne, Hartmann. 



2. XANTHORRHiEA. Sm. 



(Eeferring to the flow of yellow resinous matter from the stems.) 



Perianth persistent, of 6 distinct segments, the 3 outer glume-like, erect, 

 concave or almost hood-shaped at the top, 3 or 5-nerved, almost scarious on the 

 margins, the 3 inner much thinner, usually 5-nerved, erect within the outer ones 

 but more or less protruded beyond them into a short hyaline or white and petal- 

 like spreading lamina. Stamens 6, hypogynous or those opposite the inner 

 segments slightly adherent to their base, longer than the perianth and all equal ; 

 filaments somewhat flattened or thickened at the base, usually spreading 

 horizontally beyond the perianth, contracted at the end into an inflexed point ; 

 anthers oblong or rarely ovate, entire at both ends, dorsally attached in the 

 middle, the cells opening longitudinally. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, with few ovules 

 in each cell near the base, tapering upwards into an undivided subulate style, 

 with a terminal entire or 3-grooved stigma. Capsule protruding from the 

 persistent perianth, ovoid or acuminate, hard-brown and shining, B-valved. 

 Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, erect, ovate or oblong, flat, bordered by narrow 

 margins ; testa black, almost crustaceous but not shining ; albumen fleshy but 

 very firm almost cartilaginous ; embryo linear, transverse in the middle of the 

 seed, straight or curved. — Long-lived perennials, with a thick woody caudex, 

 from very short to arborescent. Leaves in a dense tuft at the top of the caudex, 

 long-linear, brittle, spreading or recurved, their broader closely imbricate bases 

 remaining long persistent. Scape or peduncle terminal, hard, often several feet 

 long, terminating in a dense cylindrical spike of numerous sessile flowers, closely 

 packed with numerous bracteoles surrounding each flower within a small or 

 subulate subtending bract. Caudex in several species emitting a copious dark or 

 yellow resin. Ther only true wood formed by this genus is a flat-bottomed 

 cone found in the centre of the stem at the base in old tall trees. This 

 formation may be met with 2ft. long but its usual height is only a few inches, 

 almost black and very hard and appears almost indestructible, as this portion of 

 the stem may be seen on land where the trees had been destroyed many years 

 before. In this state they have the appearance of large turned pegs rather than a 

 natural growth. 



The geau3 is limited to Australia. 



