LILIACE.E. 



865 



8. Triquetrous Allium. Allium triquetrum, Linn. 

 (Fig. 104 L.) 



Leaves broadly linear, flat but folded 

 and keeled, only sheathing the stem at 

 its very base, and sometimes very long. 

 Flower-stem not a foot high, bearing a 

 loose, slightly drooping umbel of rather 

 large white flowers. Spatha-bracts 

 short. Perianth-segments oblong, not 

 spreading. Stamens about half their 

 length, all simple. 



In moist, shady places, in the Medi- 

 terranean region, from Spain to Greece, 

 unknown in France except the extreme 

 south, but said to be abundant in hedges 

 all over the island of Guernsey. Fl. 

 May and June. 



Fig. 1041. 



XIY. SMETHIS. SIMETHIS. 



A single species, differing from all British capsular-fruited Liliacece 

 except Narthecium in its rootstock not bulbous, and from Narthecium 

 in its panicled flowers, deciduous perianth, and few seeds. It was for- 

 merly comprised in the exotic genus Antkericum, but has been isola- 

 ted on account of a different habit, accompanied by slight differences 

 in the stamens and the number of seeds. 



1. Variegated Simethis. Simethis bicolor, Kuntli. 

 (Fig. 1042.) 



(8. planifolia, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2952.) 



Eootstock short, with a tuft of thick fibrous roots. Leaves all ra- 

 dical, long, linear, and grass-like. Stem leafless, usually under a foot 

 high, branching in the upper part, with a bract under each branch, 

 the lowest bracts often linear and leaf-like. Flowers erect, in a loose 

 terminal panicle. Perianth spreading, of 6 oblong segments, about 4 



