332 
the plants which compose this small order ; the character, therefore, I borrow 
from Bartling who oddly enough considers the species Dicotyledonous. They 
are in some respects like Aracese, in others like Zingiberaceae (Tacca Isevis) ; 
but certainly have nothing to do with Dicotyledons. Blume has the fol- 
lowing remarks upon Tacca. ^ Emm. 1. 82. “ The genus Tacca offers the 
type of a new family between Araceae and Aristolochiaceae. To the former it 
approaches closest in habit, especially in the leaves, but it is very different 
from them in the structure of the parts of fructification. For in no species 
of true Araceae is a corolhne perianth, properly so called, to be found ; 
what we have the custom of calling so in Dracontium and others, is nothing 
but scales, and not even a calycine integument ; the perianth is moreover su- 
perior in Tacca. By this superior perianth the affinity with Aristolochiaceae is 
evident ; but from those too Tacca differs in the situation of the stamens, 
which are not as in that order adherent to the pistil with the anthers opening 
outwards, but are placed on the perianth itself with the anthers turned in- 
wardly.” In Tacca it is probable that there are several germinating points upon 
the embryo, analogous to the double or triple plumule of Dracontium ; hence 
embryos of such a kind may be said to be tubers formed in the fruit itself. 
Brown long since stated (Prodromus, 1810) that a relation is established be- 
tween Araceae and Aristolochiaceae by means of Tacca. See also Agardh 
Aphorism, 245. 
Geography. Found in the hotter parts of India, the South Sea Islands, 
and the tropical parts of Africa. 
Properties. The great fleshy tuberous roots are fiUed with a nutritive 
faecula resembling arrow root, but its petioles are acrimonious. Agardh. 
GENERA. 
Tacca, Forst. 
Ataccia, Presl. 
Alliance III. IXIALES. 
Essential Character. — Stamens 3, with the anthers turned outwards. 
Order CCXL. IRIDACEaE. The Cornflag Tribe. 
Irides, Juss. Gen. 57. (1789). — tEnsat^, Ker in Ann. of Botany, 1. 219. (1805). — Iride.®, 
R. Brown Prodr. 302. (1810) ; Ker. Gen. Irid. (1827) ; DC. and Duty, 451. (1828) ; 
Lindl. Synops. 254. (1829) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 44. (1830). 
Essential Character. — Calyx axid corolla superior, confounded, their divisions either 
partially cohering, or entirely separate, sometimes irregular, the 3 petals being sometimes 
very short. Stamens 3, arising from the base of the sepals ; filaments distinct or connate ; 
anthers bursting externally lengthwise, fixed by their base, 2-celled. Ovary 3 -celled, cells 
many-seeded; style 1; stigmas 3, often petaloid, sometimes 2-lipped. Capsule 3 -celled, 
3-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds attached to the inner angle of the cell, 
sometimes to a central column, becoming loose ; albumen corneous, or densely fieshy ; 
embryo enclosed within it. — Herbaceous plants, or very seldom under-shrubs, usually 
smooth ; the hairs, if there are any, simple. Roots tuberous or fibrous. Leaves equitant, 
distichous, in most genera. Infioreseenee terminal, in spikes, corymbs, or panicles, or 
crowded. Bracts spathaceous, the partial ones often scarious ; the sepals occasionally rather 
herbaceous. 
Affinities. This order differs from Amaryllidaceae essentially, in being 
