near Kirby-moor-side. Near Doncaster ; Stitnam ; Dunkirk Wood, near 
Sleningford, five miles north of Ripon, abundant. Hungry Hill, Robin Hood’s 
Bank, and banks of the Skell, Ripon. In the long flat at Knaresborough. Mal- 
ham Cove: Bot. Guide. Near Richmond: L. E. O. in Loud. Mag. of Nat. 
Hist. vol. iii. p. 168. — SCOTL A N D. Side of a rivulet near Auchtertool, and in 
the Den of Forret, four miles from Cupor, Fifeshire. Near Dupplin. Woods 
at Cortachy Castle, north of Forfar, in abundance, and truly wild: D. Don, 
Hook. FI. Scot. 
Perennial. — Flowers in March and April. 
Bulb small, about the size of a hazel-nut. Scape solitary, from 
4 to 6 inches high, unequally angular, and terminated by a simple, 
rarely a double, umbel of 3 or 4, sometimes more, flowers, on angu- 
lar, smooth, upright flower-stalks, about an inch and a half long ; 
accompanied at the base by 2 or 3 unequal bracteas, one of which is 
much larger than the others, and longer than the flower-stalks ; and 
one of them occasionally very minute ; their edges more or less 
fringed with soft, loose hairs. Root-leaf 1, rarely 2, strap-spear- 
shaped, pointed, ribbed, keeled, upright, and taller than the scape. 
Corolla of 6 spear-shaped, keeled petals, disposed in two series, the 
inner of a greenish-yellow colour, the outer green. Filaments awl- 
shaped, flattish. Anthers and Pistils yellow. Style triangular. 
The bulbous roots of this species have been used for food, in times 
of scarcity, in Sweden. Stukm says, that the bulbs, roasted in ashes 
and mixed with honey, are useful in healing sores ; and that the ex- 
pressed juice of the roots is beneficial to children in convulsions. 
The Natural Order Asphode'le/f. comprises many very pretty, 
and some handsome plants. They are all monocotyledonous (having 
only one seed-lobe), herbaceous plants, or occasionally trees, with 
bulbs, or fasciculated roots. Their leaves have parallel veins ; their 
flower-stalks are jointed, or articulated in the middle ; and their 
flowers are coloured. They have a petal-like, regular, 6-parted or 
6-cleft peridnthium ( corolla). Six stamens, which are perigynous 
(inserted upon the perianthium) , or hypogynous (inserted below the 
germen) ; the 3 opposite the 3 outer pieces of the perianthium 
(sepals) sometimes either unlike the rest, or wanting. Ovarium 
(germen) superior, of 3 cells, with 2 or many seeds in each cell. 
Ovules (unripe seeds), when 2, ascending. Style one. Stigma en- 
tire, or with 3 short lobes. The fruit is mostly a 3-celled, 3-valved 
capsule, with a loculicidal dehiscence (i. e. the dissepiments, or par- 
titions, are situated on the middle of the inner surface of the valves) ; 
occasionally succulent, and sometimes 3-parted. The seeds have 
a black, brittle, and crustaceous testa. The albumen is fleshy, and 
contains the embryo. 
This order is distinguished from that of Lilia'cEjE by the smaller 
flowers, and hard, black, brittle testa, or integuments of the seed. — 
See Professor Lindley’s Introd. to the Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 273. 
