I I a b . Abuudant i n rocky places througliout the Island.— (Fl. Oct., Nov.) (t>. t>.)
D is t r ib . New South Wales and Victoria.
A handsome herbaceous plant, 1-2 feet high. Root of thick fascicled fibres, with difficulty removed from the
soil. Rase of stem thickened in old plants, sometimes forming a very distinct bulb. Leaves linear elongate, terete
on the back, plane or channelled in front. Raceme 2-4 inches long. Flowers very luunevous, on slender peduncles,
with ovate acuminate scarious bracts at the base. Filaments all vith a tuft of hairs above the middle. Capsule
erect, obovate-globose, vilh few seeds.
2. B ulb in e semibarbata (Haworth, Revis. 3 3 ); radice fibris tenuibus, caule basi simplici,
racemo lasifloro, filameutis declinatis interioribus supra medium barbatis.—Kunth, En. iv. p. 565. Antliericum
seinibarbalum, Br. Prodr. 275 ; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3129. {Gunn, 949.)
H a b . Commou iu moist and marshy places in various parts of the Island.— (FL Nov., Dec.) {v. v.)
D i s t r ib . Extratropical Australia, from New South Wales to Swan River.
A much less handsome plant than B. bulbosa, with slender fibrous roots, easily removed from the soil, a longer
laxer raceme of smaller flowers and fniit, and having the filaments bearded above the middle only.
Gen. IV. CÆSIA, Br.
Flores racemosi v. corymbosi, albi v. cærulei, pedicellis apice articulatis. Ferianthium patens,
æquale, 6 -partitum, post anthesin tortum. Stamina 6 ; filamentis gracilibus, imberbibus ; antheris brevibus,
basi emarginata insertis. Ocañum 3-loculare; stglo filiformi; stigmate simplici; ovulis loculis 2 -4.
Capsula clavata, apice lobata, vix valvata, loculis 1-2-sperinis. Semina loculis 2 -4 ; testa Crustacea,
atra.—Herbæ ; radieibus e / ¿ m interdum tubsi'osis, fascieidaiis ; io\m graìnineis ; racemo simplici v.
paniculato, composito v. corgmhoso ; pedicellis solitariis v. aggregatis; floribus erectis v. nutautihus;
perianthio mox decìduo ; antheris/avis.
Of this genus about ten species are known to me, all of them Australian or Tasmanian. One is
tropical, the rest inhabit the extratropical quarter, none however being common to the south-east and south-west.
All are rather slender, white- or blue-flowevcd herbs, with roots of fascicled, sometimes tuberous fibres, linear grasslike
leaves, and a racemose inflorescence.—Ziowers jointed on the pedicel. Beiiantli of six spreading leaflets.
Stamens six, u-ith naked filaments and small anthers, Omrg thrce-celled ; cells with from two to four ovules in each.
Style slender, with a smaU stigma. CapsuU clavate, three-celled, obscurely thrce-valvcd, cells one- or two-seeded.
Seeds with a crustaceous testa. (Named in honour of Mederic Casius, a botanist of the middle of the seventeenth
century.)
^ 1, Floioera corymbose. Ovary with four ovules in each cell. Capsule obcnneate, with four shining compressed
seeds in each cell.
1. Cæsia corymbosa (Br. Prodr. 277) ; parvula, radieibus e fibris tubcrosis crassis, foliis plauis
ciliolatis, floribus subcorymbosis erectis, perianthii foliolis late ovatis, filamentis gracillimis, capsula
obcuneata 4-sperma, seminibus splendentibus. — Kunth, En. Plant, iv. 609. {Gunn, 346.) (T a b .
CXXXII. A.) .
H a b . Abundant in grassy places tliroughout the Island.— (Fl. Oct.) (t>. v.)
D i s t r ib . Victoria.
A charming little plant, conspicuous in grassy pastures from the beautiful blue of its stav-sliapcd flowers.
Jtoofr of thick, tuberous, fleslrj fibres. Leave, fiat, plane, linear, ratbor obtuse, ciliolatc, 2-3 inclies long. Seafe
longer tban the leaves, sparingly branched in a corymbose form ahore. i W s erect, about J inch in diameter,
FikmenU very slender. Capsale rather membranous, with four shirring compressed black seeds ru each cell. rhis.
and one or two other South Australian species, belongs to a different section of the genus from the foUowing, haying,
besides the characters given above, broad segments of the perianth, slender filaments, and membranous capsules.—
P late CXXXII. A. Pig. 1, flower ; 2, stamen ; 3, ovary ; 4, the same, cut transversely ; 5, capsule ; 6, transverse
section of ditto ; 7, seed ; 8, the same, cut longitudinally :—all magnified.
§ 2, Flowers racemose. Ovary with two ovules in each cell. Capsule broadly globose, coriaceous, three-lobed; lobes
with two or three globose, opaque seeds, wiih a large umbilicus.
2. C æsia parviflora (Br. Prodr. 27 7 ); radieibus e fibris cylindricis elongatis fasciculatis, foliis
anguste lanceolatis v. filiformibus, racemis strictis gracilibus basi divisis, floribus parvis binis v. aggregatis
erectis, perianthii foliolis lineari-oblongis, filamentis planis, capsula brevi 3-loba, lobis 1-2-spermis, seminibus
globosis, umbilico lato, testa atra opaca granulata.—Kunth, En. iv. 609. {Gunn, 1383.)
Hab. Saudy soil : in the northern coasts of the Colony, at Georgetown, Launceston, etc.—
(Fl. Dec., Jan.)
D is t r ib . New South Wales {Brown), South-west Australia ?
I am uncertain whether this or the foUowfing is the C. pai-vifiora, Br., but incline to refer this to it, from the
roots being truly fibrous. I have not, however, seen any Australian specimens of the present species, except,
indeed, it be the same as a Swan River one, which it closely resembles. Of this Tasmaniau C. parvifiora I have
two varieties, one smaUer, with filiform leaves, fi'om sand-liills at Georgetown, the other from Penquite, with rather
broader leaves.—Roots of fascicled, cylindrical, rather fleshy fibres. Leaves 3-7 inches long, verj' narrow. Racemes
strict, erect, slender, branched at the base, many-flowered. Floweis small, i inch long, erect, pediceUed, the
pedicels clustered by two or more in the axU of each small membranous bract. Pedicels about as long as the
flowers. Pe/'ionth with linear-oblong lobes.
3. Cæsia v itta ta (Br. Prodr. 277) ; radice e fibris crassis tuberosis fusiformibus, foliis lanceolato-
linearibus gramineis planis, racemis strictis basi divisis v. paniculatim ramosis, floribus aggregatis erectis
nutantibusque, perianthii foliolis linearibus, filameutis basi et apice angustatis, capsula subglobosa 3-loba,
lobis 1- 2-spermis, semiuibus globosis, hilo late stropbiolato, testa atra opaca minutissime granulata.—
Kunth. En. iv. 608. {Gunn, 99.)
Hab. Commou in grassy places, and especially iu the nortlieru parts of the Island ; Launceston,
Laurence, Gunn.— (Fl. Oct., Dec.)
D is t iu b . New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.
A very pretty plant, not easily distinguishable by descriptions from C. parviflora, but much larger in all its
parts, witii longer, broader leaves, a more branched, often spreading panicle of racemose flowers nearly i inch
long, and the seeds not so strongly granulated.
Gen. V. TIIYSANOTUS, Br.
Flores cærulei, umbellati v. sparsi, pedicellis medio articulatis. Perianthium 6 -partitum, æquale,
persistens ; foliolis exterioribus augustioribus, interioribus utrinque coloratis margine fimbriatis v. nudis.
Stamina 6 ; filamentis brevibus, glabris; untherk apice productis. Oranwra 3-loculare ; sif/o elongato,
gracili; stigmate simplici; ovulìs 2. Capsula perianthio involuta, membranacea, 3-locularis, loculicide
3-valvis. Semina loculis 2, altero péndulo, altero erecto; testa atra, crustácea; umbilico stropbiolato.—
Herbæ; radieibus tuberosis fibrosisce ; caule stricto v. volubili ; foliis linearibus v. 0 ; floribus solitariis
paniculatis umbellatisve.
The largest Australian genus of the Order, containing upwards of thirty species, found in both temperate
and tropical regions, but confiued to Australia and Tasmania, with the exception, perhaps, of a Philippine Island