This order includes the Hyacinth (Hyacinthus), the squills (Scilla), the onions (Allium), the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari), the Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum), King’s Spear (Asphodelus), Anthericum, Albuca, Gagea, Thysanotus, Asparagus, the Dragon-wood (Dracæna), and New Zealand flax (Phormium). Many of these plants have tunicated bulbs; that is, bulbs which consist of several fleshy tunics or coats, which may easily be separated from each other, as may be seen in the hyacinth and the onion. The leaves are fleshy, and ligulate or strap-shaped; and the stems are frequently hollow. The flowers are generally in upright racemes, or umbels; they are regular, and sometimes bell-shaped; the perianth is divided into six segments, which are sometimes partly united into a tube, and recurved at the tip. There are six stamens attached to the perianth, and the fruit is either a fleshy or dry three-celled capsule, generally with several seeds, and opening into three valves, when ripe. Dr. Lindley makes this a separate order in his Ladies’ Botany, but he combines it with Liliaceæ in his Introduction to the Nat. Syst., and Sir W. J. Hooker includes in it Yucca and Aloe, the first of which in the Hortus Britannicus is included in Tulipaceæ, and the latter in Hemerocallideæ.
ORDER CXCVI.—TULIPACEÆ.
This order in the Hortus Britannicus comprises the genera Yucca, Tulipa, Fritillaria, Cyclobothra, Calochortus, Lilium, Gloriosa, and Erythronium (the Dog Violet); but Sir W. J. Hooker omits Yucca, and adds Blandfordia, Hemerocallis, and Polianthes; while Dr. Lindley includes all these plants, together with those comprised in Asphodeleæ, in the order Liliaceæ. This last appears the most natural arrangement, as all these plants have a regular perianth of six segments, with six stamens, and a dry or fleshy capsule of three cells, opening by as many valves. Some of the genera have more seeds than others, and some of the seeds have a hard, dry, black skin, while others have the skin spongy and soft. Some of the genera have the flowers erect and single, as in the Tulip; in others the flowers are erect, but in umbels, as in the Orange Lily; and in others they are in racemes and drooping, as in the Yucca, or single and drooping, as in the Fritillaria, or with the segments curved back as in the Martagon Lily.
ORDER CXCVII.—MELANTHACEÆ.
The plants belonging to this order have generally inconspicuous flowers, except Colchicum and Bulbocodium, both of which have flowers like the Crocus. The bulbs of the Colchicum are used in medicine; but they and the whole plant abound in an acrid juice, which is poisonous if taken in too large a dose. The root of Veratrum is also poisonous, and this plant is believed to be the Hellebore of the ancients. The Colchicum and the Bulbocodium are distinguished from the Crocus genus, which they so strongly resemble in the appearance of their flowers, by the ovary being within the flower instead of below it, as is the case with all the Amaryllidaceæ, and by their having three distinct styles, instead of one style and three stigmas. In all other respects they are the same.