XXXVIII. MELANTHACE^. 849 



XXXVI. CONANTHEREJE, Don. 



Stemless herbs, natives of Peru and Chili. Eoot tubero-bulbous, with fibrous 

 coats ; scape branched, bracteate. Flowers 2 , blue, panicled. Perianth petaloid, 

 adhering to the ovary by its base ; limb 6-partite, spirally twisted after flowering, 

 and then detaching transversely above its base. Stamens 6, inserted on the perianth ; 

 filaments compressed, short, glabrous ; anthers basifixed, connivent in a cone, opening 

 by a pore at the top. Ovary sub-adherent, of 3 many-ovuled cells ; style filiform ; 

 stigma simple. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds globose. 



GENERA. 

 Conaathera. Cunimingia. Zepliyra, &c. 



XXXVII. GILLIESIEJE, Lindley. 



Plants of Chili. Bulbous glabrous herbs. Leaves radical, linear. Flowers 



5 , inconspicuous, arranged in an umbel with a double coloured involucre. Perianth 



greenish, fleshy, sometimes with 3 2-labiate leaflets {Gilliesia); sometimes regular, 



urceolite, 6-toothed (Miersia). Stamens 6, sometimes adnate to the base of the 



perianth, and united into a cup, the 3 posterior sterile (Gilliesia) ; sometimes minute, 



inserted at the throat of the perianth {Miersria). Ovary of 3 many-ovuled cells; 



style filiform ; stigma capitate. Capsule with 3 semi-septiferous valves. Seeds 



with a crustaceous black testa. 



GENERA. 



Gilliesia. Miersia. 



XXXVIII. MELANTHACE^. 



(Melanthe^, Batsch. — Melanthace^, Br. — Colchicace^, B.C.— 

 Veratre^, Salisbury.) 



Flowers 5 . Perianth sub-herbaceous or petaloid, 6-merous, 2-seriate, wstivation 

 imbricate or valvate. Stamens 6, inserted at the base or throat of the perianth 5 anthers 

 dorsifixed, usually mtrorse. Ovary superior. Or rarely semi-inferior, of 3 many-ovuled 

 cells; STYLES 3. Fruit of three follicles, rarely a capsule, very rarely a berry, SeeDs 

 albuminous. Embryo small, included.— ^t-e'M. or scape herbaceous. Leaves radical 

 or alternate. 



Perennial herbs with bulbous or tuberous roots, rarely of fascicled fibres, some- 

 times with a horizontal rhizome. Stem or scape annual, simple, or very rarely 

 branched, often shortened, or .subterranean. Leaves all radical, or the cauline 

 alternate, sometimes Grass-like or setaceous ; suuiatimes large, nerved, entire, sessile, 



3i 



