Sepals small, unequal, ovate or oblong-ovate, obtuse. Petals unequal.
Fruit with 2 cells, more rarely with 3, one of which is smaller and 1-2-seeded.—Species
30. Tropical and South Africa. Some are used as ornamental plants. (Plate 16.) Aneilema R. Br.
7. Petals united below into a tube, but sometimes free at the base, blueish or reddish. Ovary 3-celled with 1-2 ovules in each cell. 8
Petals free or nearly so. 9
8. Stamens inserted towards the top of the corolla-tube. Petals united from the base.—Species 5. Tropical and South Africa. Coleotrype C. B. Clarke
Stamens inserted at the base of the corolla. Petals free at the base.—Species
15. Tropical and South Africa. Some are used as ornamental plants. Cyanotis Don
9. Ovary 2-celled with 1 ovule in each cell. Fruit ovate. Filaments glabrous.
Petals red or yellow. Inflorescence a panicle.—Species 9. Tropical and South-east Africa. Some are used as ornamental plants. Floscopa Lour.
Ovary 3-celled. 10
10. Ovules 4-10 in each cell. Fruit oblong. Filaments glabrous. Petals whitish. Inflorescence a panicle.—Species 2. Central Africa. Buforrestia C. B. Clarke
Ovules 1-2 in each cell. Fruit ovoid or globular. Stamens hairy. Inflorescence spike-, head-, or umbel-like. 11
11. Ovules 2 in each cell; in the dorsal cell sometimes solitary. Fruit subglobular.
Stamens with a narrow connective. Sepals herbaceous, green.
Inflorescence spike- or head-like. Stem long.—Species 3. Equatorial
West Africa. Forrestia A. Rich.
Ovule 1 in each cell. Fruit ovoid. Stamens with a broad connective.
Sepals subpetaloid. Inflorescence umbel-like and surrounded by an involucre of two bracts. Stem short.—Species 1. West Africa (Congo). Rhoeo Hance
SUBORDER PONTEDERIINEAE
[FAMILY 29.] PONTEDERIACEAE
Aquatic herbs. Flowers in spikes, racemes or panicles, without bracts, hermaphrodite. Perianth-segments 6, petaloid, white, yellow or blue, united below into a tube, rarely nearly free. Stamens 3 or 6, affixed to the perianth. Anthers oblong. Ovary superior, 1-or 3-celled, with numerous inverted ovules. Style simple. Fruit a loculicidal, many-seeded capsule. Seeds with a ribbed testa, a copious mealy albumen, and a long cylindrical embryo.—Genera 3, species 5. Tropics.
1. Stamens 3. Ovary 1-celled or incompletely 3-celled. Perianth funnel-shaped, with a distinct tube.—Species 3. Central Africa. Heteranthera Ruiz & Pav.
Stamens 6. Ovary 3-celled. Perianth blue or violet. 2
2. Perianth funnel-shaped, with a distinct tube; Filaments thread-like. Anthers attached by the back. Stigma entire or shortly lobed.—Species 1.
Tropics. Used as an ornamental plant. Eichhornia Kunth
Perianth bell-shaped, with nearly free segments. Filament of the largest stamen toothed at the base. Anthers attached by the base. Stigma deeply cleft.—Species 1. Central Africa (Upper Nile and Kasai).
Used as an ornamental plant, and in medicine. Monochoria Presl
[FAMILY 30.] CYANASTRACEAE
Herbs. Root-stock tuberous. Leaves elliptical or cordate, with curved main-nerves. Flowers in terminal racemes or panicles, provided with bracts. Perianth-segments 6, petaloid, shortly united at the base. Stamens 6, inserted at the base of the perianth, more or less united below. Anthers linear, longer than the filaments, opening by short slits at the apex. Ovary slightly sunk in the receptacle, deeply lobed, 3-celled. Ovules 2 in each cell, ascending, inverted. Style simple, with a 3-lobed stigma. Fruit a 1-seeded nut. Seed with a thin testa, a copious albumen, and a transversely-ovate marginal embryo. (Under PONTEDERIACEAE or HAEMODORACEAE.)
Genus 1, species 5. Central Africa. Some have edible tubers. (Schoenlandia
Cornu). Cyanastrum Oliv.
ORDER LILIIFLORAE