328 
floral envelopes, differ from them in their seeds being- destitute of albumen, 
which in Monocotyledons is a very remarkable circumstance. 
Order CCXXXVI. AMARYLLIDACEJE. 
The Narcissus Tribe. 
Narcissi, the second section, Juss. Gen. 54. (1789). — Amaryllideje, R. Brown Prodr. 
296. (1810) ; Herbert Appendix to the Bot. Mag. (1821) ; DC. and Duby, 454. 
(1828) ; Lindl. Synops. 264. (1829). — NarcissEjE Agardh. Aph. 173. (1823). — 
HypoxiDEiE, R. Brown in Flinders. (1814) ; Agardh. Aph. 164. (1823). Ed. Prior. 
No. 235. (1830). 
Essential Character. — Calyx and corolla confounded, superior, regular, coloured, 
the former overlapping the latter. Stamens 6, arising from the sepals and petals, some- 
times cohering by their dilated bases into a kind of cup ; sometimes an additional series of 
barren stamens is present, often forming a cup which surmounts the tube of the perianth ; 
bursting inwardly. Ovary 3-celled, the cells many-seeded, or sometimes 1- or 2- 
seeded; style 1; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit either a 3-celled, 3-valved capsule, with loculicidal 
dehiscence, or a 1-3-seeded berry. Seeds with either a thin and membranous, or a brittle and 
black or a thick and fleshy testa ; albumen fleshy or corneous ; embryo nearly straight, with 
its radicle turned towards the hilum. — Generally bulbous, sometimes fibrous-rooted, occa- 
sionally with a tall, cylindrical, woody stem. Leaves ensiform, with parallel veins. Flowers 
usually with spathaceous bracts. Stem or scape not spadiceous. 
Affinities. The only orders with which this need be compared are 
Liliacese, from which it is known by its inferior ovary : Iridacese, which are 
distinguished by being triandrous, with the anthers turned outwards ; and 
Hsemodoracese, which see. No one has ever thought of dismembering it, 
since Brown founded it upon Jussieu’s 2d section of Narcissi ; and it can 
scarcely be said to comprehend an anomalous genus, unless Clivia and Dory- 
anthes be so considered, on account of their fascicled roots. Agave and Four- 
croya which I place here at the instance of Mr. Herbert, the stems of which 
are woody, and Gethyllis, because of its being polyandrous. The latter devia- 
tion from the ordinary character of the order will probably be considered of 
less importance, if we bear in mind the polyandrous structure of some Hsemo- 
doraceee, and especially if, in the first place, the genuine Amaryllidaceous genus 
PhyceUa be attended to, which has a tendency to produce additional stamens, 
and if, secondly, the corona of Narcissus itself be borne in mind, which is in 
fact an organ representing an extra number of stamens. I have elsewhere 
remarked (Bot. Reg. 1341.) that this is connected with a strong tendency in 
the whole order to form another set of male organs between the perianth and 
those stamens that actually develope. Hence a curious instance is exhibited, 
to which several parallels may, however, be found in other families, of the 
force of developement being generally confined to a series of organs origina- 
ting within those which should be fonned according to the ordinary laws of 
structure. Of course, in all such orders a multiphcation of the usual number 
of stamens is more to be expected than where this peculiar circumstance does 
not exist. The order is now undergoing a careful revision by the Hon. and 
Rev. William Herbert, to whom I am much indebted for many valuable 
remarks, and for the materials from which the following hst of genera has 
been prepared. I give up the possibility of characterizing Hypoxidese as a 
distinct order, for their occasionally rosteUate seeds appear of no value as an 
ordinal distinction. Mr. Herbert would also bring here Dioscoreaceae. The 
public will soon have an opportunity of seeing the views of this gentleman 
fully developed in his forthcoming Monograph. 
