cf iht Gcnm Ehrharta. ■ "43
exterloris, infidet tuberculum feflile, fubrotuadum, in?Gquale;
forfan rudimentuiii iiufculi. Ne"arium. Petala s. memliraniilae 2. minima, bafi crafuufculai
apice tenniflima ; genitalia obvolventia. Stam. Filamenta 6. bieviflima, circa germen inferta. Antherce li-
neares, ere6l<c, bafi emarginatae, apice bifids, biloculares:
loculh apice oblique hiantibus. PiST. Germen ovatum, minutum, glabrum. Styl't duo, breviflimi,
eredli, contigui. Stigmata longa, conniventia, demum diver-
gentia, compreffo-bijubata. Per. nullum ; fed valvule coroll. perfiftentes includunt Semen unicum glabrum.
Character essentialis.
Cal. Gluma bivalvis uniflora.
Cor'. Gluma duplex, utraque bivalvis; exterior hd^^i excifa.
From the above generic charafter it appears — that the gluma co--rolliniE being joined at the bafe by a kind of hinge or articulation, the interior of the exterior i:oroUine glumes is emarginated at the fides of the bafe, or has on each fide a femilunar cavity; — that a rudimentum ijlofculi is commonly found atthe bafe between the two interior corolline valves ; but in thofe fpecies where this rudiment is vz.ntivg,2. fquama petaloidea is feen in its place on both fides, where the interior valve is emarginated ; — that the filaments are not inferted in a parallel manner on two sides of the germen, but furround it; the anthercv, however, concealed within the comprefled glumes of the corolla, are placed three on each oppofite fide of the piJliUum — that the antherce open only at the top at the time of foecundation ; — and finally, that the Stks are invariably two, and the Stigmata bijitbata. This
