244 FLORA. 



Order 8. LILlALES. 



Monocotyledonous plants, mostly with well-developed perianth, the 

 flowers usually regular and complete, and their parts in 3's or 6's. Ovary 

 superior or inferior, compound. Endosperm of the seed fleshy or horny. 



Ovary superior (except in Aletris of the Liliaceae, and some species of Zygadenus in the 

 Melanthaceae). 

 Perianth-segments distinct, green or brown, not petal-like ; herbs with grass-like 



leaves and small flowers. Fam. i. Juncaceae. 



Perianth-segments distinct, or partly united, at least the inner petal-like. 



Fruit a capsule (except in Yucca baccata, where it is large, fleshy and indehis- 

 cent). 

 Capsule mostly septicidal ; plants rarely bulbous. Fam. 2. Melanthaceae, 

 Capsule loculicidal (septicidal in Calochortus) ; plants mostly bulbous. 



Fam. 3. Liliaceae. 

 Fruit a fleshy berry. 



Erect herbs ; tendrils none ; flowers perfect. Fam. 4. Convallariaceae. 



Vines, climbing by tendrils, or rarely erect ; flowers dioecious, in axillary 

 umbels. Fam. 5. Smilaceae. 



Ovary inferior, wholly or in part. 



Stamens 3, opposite the inner corolla-segments. Fam. 6. Haemodoraceae* 



Stamens 6 in our species. 



Erect perennial herbs ; flowers perfect. Fam. 7. Amaryllidaceae. 



Twining vines ; flowers dioecious. Fam. 8. Dioscoreaceae. 



Stamens 3, opposite the outer corolla-segments. Fam. 9. Iridaceae, 



Family 17. JUNCACEAE Vent* 



Rush Family. 



Perennial or sometimes annual, grass-like, usually tufted herbs, com- 

 monly growing in moist places. Inflorescence usually compound or 

 decompound, paniculate, corymbose, cymose, or umbelloid, rarely re- 

 duced to a single flower, bearing its flowers singly, or loosely clustered, 

 or aggregated into spikes or heads. Flowers small, regular, with or with- 

 out bractlets (prophylla). Perianth 6-parted, the parts glumaceous. 

 Stamens 3 or 6, rarely 4 or 5, the anthers adnate, introrse, 2-celled, 

 dehiscing by a slit. Pistil superior, tricarpous, i-celled or 3-celled, with 

 3-many ascending anatropous ovules, and 3 filiform stigmas. Fruit a 

 loculicidal capsule. Seeds 3-many, small, cylindric to subglobose, with 

 loose or close seed-coat, with or without caruncular or tail-like append- 

 ages. Seven genera and about 200 species, widely distributed. 



Leaf-sheaths open ; capsule 1- or 3-celled, many-seeded ; placentae parietal or axial. 



1. J uncus. 

 Leaf-sheaths closed; capsule i-celled, 3-seeded, its placenta basal. 2. Juncoides. 



1. JUNCUS L. (See Appendix.) 



Usually perennial plants, principally of swamp habitat, with glabrous herbage; 

 stems leaf-bearing or scapose, leaf-sheaths with free margins, and leaf blades terete, 

 gladiate, grass-like, or channeled. Inflorescence paniculate or corymbose, often 

 unilateral, sometimes congested, bearing its flowers either singly and with 2 bract- 

 lets (prophylla), or in heads and without bractlets, but each in the axil of a bract ; 

 bractlets almost always entire; stamens 6 to 3; ovary' 1 -celled or by the intrusion 

 of the placentae 3-celled, the placentae correspondingly parietal or axial; seeds 

 several-many, usually distinctly reticulated or ribbed, often tailed. About 150 

 species, most abundant in the north temperate zone. The species bloom in sum- 

 mer. [Latin, itomjitngo, to bind, in allusion to the use of these plants for w?.the$ 



* Contributed by Mr. Frederick V. Coville. 



