Fig. 304.—Veratrum: A flower; B stamen; C transverse section of ovary; D gynœceum, with one carpel bisected longitudinally, and the third removed; E fruit after dehiscence; F longitudinal section of a seed.
C. Colchiceæ.—Colchicum (Autumn Crocus); perennial herbs, with a long, funnel-shaped, gamophyllous perianth, and introrse anthers. The flowers of C. autumnale spring up immediately from the underground stem, which is in reality a corm formed of one internode. Colchicum autumnale flowers in autumn without leaves; in spring the radical foliage-leaves appear simultaneously with the fruit. The flower is protogynous, and is pollinated by insects (humble-bees, etc.) which seek the honey secreted by the free part of the stamen a little way down the tube. The length of the tube protects the fruit, and not, as in other cases, the nectary.—Bulbocodium and Merendera have unguiculate perianth-leaves, free, but closing together like a tube.
175 species; chiefly in North America and South Africa. Tofieldia is an Arctic plant. The order is rich in pungent, poisonous alkaloids (veratrin, colchicin, etc.). Officinal; the seeds of Colchicum autumnale (Europe) and Schœnocaulon officinale (Mexico), and the rhizome of Veratrum album (mountains of Central Europe).
Fig. 305.—Colchicum autumnale. A Corm seen from the front: k corm; s′ s″ scale-leaves embracing the flower-stalk; wh base of flower-stalk with roots (w). B Longitudinal section of corm and flower-stalk: hh brown membrane surrounding the underground portion of the plant; st flower-and leaf-stalk of previous year, the swollen basal portion forming the reservoir of reserve material. The new plant is a lateral shoot from the base of the corm (k) and has the following parts: the base bearing the roots (w), the central part (k’) which becomes the corm in the next year, the axis bearing the scale-leaves (s’, s″), the foliage-leaves (l, l′″), and the flowers (b, b’) which are borne in the axils of the uppermost foliage-leaves.
Order 2. Liliaceæ (Lilies). Flowers as in the Colchicaceæ but with introrse anthers; ovary free, 3-locular, with single style; capsule 3-locular with loculicidal dehiscence.—The majority are herbs with bulbs; the inflorescence is terminal. In many species reproduction takes place by means of bulbils (small bulbs) formed in the axils of the foliage-leaves (e.g. Lilium bulbiferum, lancifolium, etc., Gagea lancifolia, etc.), or in the bracts of the inflorescence (many species of Allium); in many species several buds are developed as bulbs in the axils of the bulb-scales themselves (accessory buds arising close together), and in some the formation of buds is common on the leaves.
A. Tulipeæ, Tulip Group. Bulbs. The aerial, elongated stem bears the foliage-leaves. Flowers few but generally large, with free perianth-leaves. Tulipa; style absent, no honey; flowers generally solitary, erect.—Fritillaria perianth campanulate with a round or oblong nectary at the base of each perianth-leaf.—Lilium; perianth widely open, generally turned back with a covered nectary-groove in the centre of each segment. Anthers versatile.—Lloydia; Erythronium.
B. Hyacintheæ, Hyacinth Group. Bulbs. Leaves radical; aerial stem leafless with raceme or spike. In some the perianth-segments are free, in others united. Honey is produced often in glands or in the septa of the ovary (septal glands).—Ornithogalum has a leafy stem; Scilla; Eucomis has a tuft of floral-leaves above the raceme; Agraphis; Hyacinthus; Puschkinia; Chionodoxa; Muscari; Veltheimia; Urginea.
C. Allieæ, Onion Group. Generally bulbs. Leaves radical. Stem leafless with a compound umbellate or capitate inflorescence of unipared helicoid cymes, which before flowering are surrounded by two broad involucral leaves.—Allium. Filaments often petaloid and bidentate; in many species bulbils are found in the inflorescence.—Some species have flat leaves: A. sativum, Garlic; A. porrum, Leek; A. ursinum; others have round, hollow leaves: A. cepa, Onion; A. fistulosum, Winter Onion; A. ascalonicum, Eschalot; A. schænoprasum, Chive.—Gagea; honey is secreted at the base of the perianth, no special nectary; inflorescence few-flowered.—Agapanthus; Triteleia.
D. Anthericeæ. Rhizome; raceme; the leaves not fleshy and thick.—Anthericum; Asphodelus; Bulbine; Chlorophytum; Bowiea has an almost leafless stem with curved, climbing branches.