The genera of South African plants : arranged according to the natural system / by William Henry Harvey.

  • William H. Harvey
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The genera of South African plants : arranged according to the natural system / by William Henry Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    solitary, compressed ; perianth of 6 unequal glumes.—Males : Stamens 3 ; pistil rudimentary or wholly wanting.—]Fema,le .- Stamens rudimentary or 0. Ovary 2-3-celled; style 1, dividing into 2-3 stigmatic branches. ^ Capsule compressed, 1-2-locu- lar (by abortion), dehiscing loiiigitudinally through the dorsal suture.—Kunth, Enum. iii. p. 382. Ehodocoma, E'ees ah Esen- heck\ Kunth, l.c.p. 480. Ischyrolepis, Steudel, Synops. Gluonac. ii. p. 249. Rush-like plants, with persistent sheaths.—Species 75-80. An equal number in Australia. 2. DOVEA, Kth. Flowers fascicled or in dense spikes, more or less triangular, longer than the bracts. Perianth of 6 unequal glumes in 2 rows; the inner longer than the outer.—Male: Stamens 3. Kudiment of pistil 3-lobed or 0.—Female: Stamhiodia 3, ligu- late or 0. Ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled, surmounted by the persistent base of the style, and splitting longitudinally at the projecting angles. Seeds with numerous raised wavy longitudinal ridges.—Kunth, l.c. . Eush-hke plants, with deciduous sheaths, having the inflorescence and general aspect of Elegia, with the fruit of Restio.—7 species, all natives of the Cape. 3. ASKIDIOSPERMA, S.teudel. Male flowers in a dense panicle or loose spike. Bracts linear, membranous; flowers triangular; glumes acute.— Female: Flowers in a compact spike; glumes lanceolate, lacerated at the margins, the inner 3 longer than the outer. Staminodes small, strap-shaped. Capsule oblong, compressed, 2-lobed, dehiscent.—A rush-like plant, with deciduous sheaths, which are of a greenish-hlue colour.—Steud. 1. c. p. 257. A little-known genus, represented by a single species; when better known, it will probably be referred to some other genus. So far as at present known, it seems to connect Elegia or l)ovea with Restio.—1 species. 4. LEPTOCARPUS, Brown. Male and female spikelets nearly of the same form, ar- ranged in spikes or panicles ; many-ilowered or rarely with a solitary flower. Perianth of 6' unequal glumes.—Male: Sta- mens 3.—Female: Ovary 3-angular, 1-celled, 1-ovuled ; stig- mas 3. Fruit 3-angular, horny, indehiscent, 1-seeded.—Sheaths persistent.—Kunth, 1. c. p. 480. Calopsis, Beaitv. •, Kunth, I c. p. 421. The species have precisely the habit and appearance of Restio, but are distinguished by their triangular, 1-cellcd, indehiscent fruit.—6 African, besides a few Australian species.