122 
AM ARYLLIDACEAS. 
19. Tamus. — Perianth deeply cleft, patent, regular ; con- 
tracted above the germen in the female ; pericarp 
with the outer coat valveless, the flesh-coat pulpy, 
the inner coat with valves bearing the dissepiments ; 
seeds with horny albumen, (having some resemblance 
to those of Bomarea.) Plants with great tuberous 
roots ; veins of the leaves confluent. 
1. Communis. Engl. Bot. 91. — -2. Cretica. Willd. 
20. Testudinaria. — Perianth deeply cleft; limb regular, 
half-patent, reflex ; filaments erect, subulate, enlarged 
at the base, inserted in the base of the segments ; 
anthers roundish, erect, adnate. Natives of Africa ; 
root with square angular prominences. The male 
inflorescence is spiked, the female flowers said to be 
usually solitary. The veins of the leaves are con- 
fluent. 
1. Elephantipes. — Bot. Reg. 1 1.921. — Tamus. Bot. Mag. 
23. 1347. 
2. Montana. — Burch, trav. Leaves glaucous. 
21. Dioscorea. — Perianth deeply cleft {Hook. Bot. Mag. 
55. 2825.) in six segments, inserted in a bed shaped 
like the nave of a wheel on the disk or upper surface 
of the germen {Salisb. Par. Lond. 75.) ; filaments 
erect, equal ; inserted {according to Salisbury , and the 
engraving Bot. Mag. 2825.) in the bed, {according to 
Brown , Prod.) into the base of the segments ; {Qu. 
which is correct ? the same species , D. bulbifera , being 
described by both) ; anthers roundish ; style (or perhaps 
stigma) in the female deeply trifid ; ovary 3-celled ; 
cells 2-3-seeded ; capsule compressed, with two of 
the cells sometimes abortive ; seeds with a winged or 
foliaceous margin. 
Obs. If in truth there be species of Dioscorea differing 
from the rest in having the filaments inserted into the base of the 
segments, they should be transferred to Testudinaria, Dioscorea 
being distinguished by filaments inserted in the nave-shaped bed 
or disk ; if, as Dr. Brown declares, the filaments in all are 
inserted into the base of the segments, Testudinaria can be 
scarcely separated by its angular root, and I can see nothing 
else to distinguish it. Sir W. Hooker s engraving of Cinnarno- 
mifolia {Bot. Mag.) represents the perianth , as he also describes 
