54 
Groom. — On a New 
The peculiar transitional state of the gynaeceum (apo- 
syncarpous, adnate-free) is of interest. From this it is impos- 
sible to form any idea as to the affinity of the plant. Beccari 
placed Petrosavia amongst the Liliaceae which typically have 
separate styles and often follicular fruits (old order Melan- 
thaceae). Protolirion is still more like such forms as the 
Veratreae and Tofieldieae, in that the pistil is not completely 
apocarpous. In the Veratreae there are forms with half- 
adnate ovaries ( Stenanthium and Anticlea). 
The structure of the wall of the adnate portion of the ovary 
shows that the adnation is in this case caused by actual fusion 
of the floral whorls with the wall of the originally free ovary. 
The free basal margins of the adnate portions of the perianth 
further suggest that the plant is derived from forms with 
superior ovaries rather than a degenerate type of some family 
of plants with inferior ovaries. 
Protolirion agrees in habit and structure of its seeds with 
Triuridaceae and Burmanniaceae ; and it is interesting to 
note that it stands midway between them in the character of 
its gynaeceum. This coincidence is the more striking when 
it is remembered that some systematists (Eichler and others) 
view the Burmanniaceae as forms lying between the Liliaceae- 
Amaryllidaceae and the gynandrous family Orchidaceae. In 
Protolirion there is a commencement of the gynandrous con- 
dition, for the three outer stamens are attached to the wall 
of the ovary. 
The occurrence of septal glands collaterally throws light on 
the affinities of Protolirion. Such nectaries are known only 
in the Monocotyledons, and solely in Liliaceae, Haema- 
doraceae, Iridaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Bromeliaceae, and Scita- 
mineae 1 . As we cannot judge the affinities of Protolirion by 
its embryo, and the absence of a cambium might be merely 
a degenerative change, there would be nothing to prove that 
Protolirion was not a trimerous Dicotyledon. But the presence 
of septal glands, with monocotyledonous floral characters, 
1 Grassmann, Flora, 1884, pp. 113-134. 
