Perianth tubular-funnel-form, persistent, 6-parted; the divisions nearly equal, narrow. Stamens 6; anthers linear, versatile. Capsule coriaceous, many-seeded. Seeds flattened.--Leaves thick and fleshy, often with cartilaginous or spiny teeth, cl.u.s.tered at the base of the many-flowered scape, from a thick fibrous-rooted crown. (Name from ??a??, _n.o.ble_,--not inappropriate as applied to A. AMERICANA, the CENTURY-PLANT.)

1. A. Virginica, L. (FALSE ALOE.) Herbaceous; leaves entire or denticulate; scape 3--6 high; flowers scattered in a loose wand-like spike, greenish-yellow, fragrant, the perianth 9--12" long, its narrow tube twice longer than the erect lobes.--Dry or rocky banks, Md. and Va.

to Fla., west to S. Ind., Mo., and Tex.

4. HYPoXIS, L. STAR-GRa.s.s.

Perianth persistent, 6-parted, spreading; the 3 outer divisions a little herbaceous outside. Stamens 6; anthers sagittate, erect. Capsule crowned with the withered or closed perianth, not opening by valves. Seeds globular, with a crustaceous coat, ascending, imperfectly anatropous, the rhaphe not adherent quite down to the micropyle, the persistent seed-stalk thus forming a sort of lateral beak. Radicle inferior!--Stemless small herbs, with gra.s.sy and hairy linear leaves and slender few-flowered scapes, from a solid bulb. (An old name for a plant having sourish leaves, from ?p????, _sub-acid_.)

1. H. erecta, L. Leaves linear, gra.s.s-like, longer than the umbellately 1--4-flowered scape; divisions of the perianth hairy and greenish outside, yellow within.--Meadows and open woods, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex.

ORDER 115. DIOSCOREaCEae. (YAM FAMILY.)

_Plants with twining stems from large tuberous roots or knotted rootstocks, and ribbed and netted-veined petioled leaves, small dicious 6-androus and regular flowers, with the 6-cleft calyx-like perianth adherent in the fertile plant to the 3-celled ovary. Styles 3, distinct._--Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, anatropous. Fruit usually a membranaceous 3-angled or winged capsule. Seeds with a minute embryo in hard alb.u.men.

1. DIOSCOReA, Plumier. YAM.

Flowers very small, in axillary panicles or racemes. Stamens 6, at the base of the divisions of the 6-parted perianth. Capsule 3-celled, 3-winged, loculicidally 3-valved by splitting through the winged angles.

Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, flat, with a membranaceous wing. (Dedicated to the Greek naturalist, _Dioscorides_.)

1. D. villsa, L. (WILD YAM-ROOT.) Herbaceous. Stems slender, from knotty and matted rootstocks, twining over bushes; leaves mostly alternate, sometimes nearly opposite or in fours, more or less downy beneath, heart-shaped, conspicuously pointed, 9--11-ribbed; flowers pale greenish-yellow, the sterile in drooping panicles, the fertile in drooping simple racemes; capsules 8--10" long.--Thickets, S. New Eng.

to Fla., west to Minn., Kan., and Tex.

ORDER 116. LILIaCEae. (LILY FAMILY.)

_Herbs, or rarely woody plants, with regular and symmetrical almost always 6-androus flowers; the perianth not glumaceous, free from the chiefly 3-celled ovary; the stamens one before each of its divisions or lobes_ (i.e. 6, in one instance 4), _with 2-celled anthers; fruit a few--many-seeded pod or berry; the small embryo enclosed in copious alb.u.men._ Seeds anatropous or amphitropous (orthotropous in Smilax).

Flowers not from a spathe, except in Allium; the outer and inner ranks of the perianth colored alike (or nearly so) and generally similar, except in Trillium.

SUBORDER I. Smilaceae. Shrubby or rarely herbaceous, the petiole of the 3--9-nerved netted-veined leaves often tendril-bearing. Flowers (in ours) dicious, in axillary umbels, small, with regular 6-parted deciduous perianth. Anthers apparently 1-celled. Stigmas 3, sessile.

Fruit a 3-celled berry, with 1--2 pendulous orthotropous seeds in each cell. Embryo minute in h.o.r.n.y alb.u.men.

1. Smilax. Characters as above.

SUBORDER II. Liliaceae proper. Never climbing by tendrils. Very rarely dicious. Seeds anatropous or amphitropous.

SERIES A. Floral bracts scarious. Stamens perigynous on the usually withering-persistent nerved perianth; anthers introrse. Style undivided, mostly persistent. Fruit a loculicidal capsule or a berry. Leaves transversely veined.

[*] Scape from a coated bulb; fruit capsular; leaves linear.

[+] Flowers umbellate; segments 1-nerved; pedicels not jointed.

2. Allium. Perianth 6-parted. Capsule deeply lobed, often crested; cells 1--2-seeded. Very alliaceous.

3. Nothoscordum. Perianth 6-parted. Seeds several in each cell. Not alliaceous.

4. Androstephium. Perianth tubular-funnel form. Filaments in the throat, united into a crown.

[+][+] Flowers racemose, 6-parted, the segments 3--several-nerved.

5. Cama.s.sia. Flowers light blue, long racemose. Filaments filiform.

6. Ornithogalum. Flowers greenish white, sub-corymbose. Filaments dilated.

[+][+][+] Flowers densely racemose; perianth urn-shaped, 6-toothed.

7. Muscari. Flowers deep blue, small. Stamens included.

[*][*] Stem or scape not from a bulb, several-flowered; capsule many-seeded.

8. Hemerocallis. Scape from a fleshy-fibrous root. Flowers few, large, yellow, tubular-funnel-form; limb 6-parted. Stamens and long style declined. Seeds globose.

9. Yucca. Stem woody, leafy. Flowers white, campanulate, 6-parted.

Stigmas sessile. Seeds flat.

[*][*][*] Leafy stems (scape in n. 10) from running rootstocks; fruit a berry; leaves cordate to lanceolate (except n. 12); flowers white; pedicels jointed.

[+] Perianth gamophyllous, 6-lobed.

10. Convallaria. Leaves sheathing the scape. Flowers racemose; perianth bell-shaped.

11. Polygonatum. Stem leafy. Flowers axillary; perianth cylindrical.

[+][+] Perianth-segments distinct, small, spreading, persistent.

12. Asparagus. Stems branching, the apparent leaves thread-like. Flowers axillary.

13. Smilacina. Stem simple, leafy. Flowers 6-parted, racemose or paniculate.

14. Maianthemum. Stem low, 2-leaved. Flowers 4-merous, racemose.

SERIES B. Floral bracts none or foliaceous. Stamens hypogynous or at the base of the distinct segments of the deciduous perianth (persistent in n. 23); anthers extrorse or dehiscent laterally. Style undivided, deciduous (stigmas sessile and persistent in n. 23). Fruit a loculicidal capsule or a berry. Veinlets anastomosing (transverse in n. 15, 17--19).

[*] Fruit a berry; stem or scape from a creeping rootstock; leaves broad, alternate or radical; flowers narrowly campanulate.

15. Streptopus. Stem leafy. Flowers axillary, on bent pedicels. Anthers sagittate, acute; filaments deltoid or subulate.

16. Disporum. Stem leafy. Flowers few, in terminal umbels. Anthers oblong, obtuse; filaments slender. Veinlets anastomosing.

17. Clintonia. Flowers umbellate on a scape, few or many.

[*][*] Fruit a capsule.

[+] Stems leafy, from a short or creeping rootstock; flowers few, solitary, pendulous; capsule few-seeded.

18. Uvularia. Stem terete. Leaves perfoliate. Flowers terminal. Capsule truncate, 3-lobed.