HYPOGYNOUS flowers: Colchicaceæ, Liliaceæ, Convallariaceæ, Bromeliaceæ (in part). EPIGYNOUS flowers: Amaryllidaceæ, Iridaceæ, Bromeliaceæ (in part), Dioscoreaceæ. Order 1. =Colchicaceæ.= The flower (Fig. 304 _A_) is ☿, regular, _hypogynous_, trimerous in all five whorls (6 _stamens_); anthers usually _extrorse_. Gynœceum with 3 _free styles_ (_A, D_); fruit a _capsule with septicidal dehiscence_ (_E_); embryo very small (_F_). The underground stem is generally a corm or rhizome, seldom a bulb. =A.= VERATREÆ.--_Veratrum_; perennial herbs, stem tall with long internodes and broad, folded leaves; the flowers andromonœcious, with free, widely opening perianth-leaves (Fig. 304 _A_), and globular anthers; inflorescence a panicle.--_Zygadenus, Melanthium, Schœnocaulon, Uvularia, Tricyrtis_. =B.= TOFIELDIEÆ.--_Narthecium_ and _Tofieldia_ have leaves alternate (arranged in two rows), sword-like and borne in rosettes; racemes or spikes. _Narthecium_ forms an exception to the order by having a simple style and fruit with loculicidal dehiscence; _Tofieldia_ by the introrse anthers. In this they are related to the Liliaceæ. _Narthecium_ has poisonous properties, like many other Colchicaceæ. [Illustration: FIG. 304.--_Veratrum_: _A_ flower; _B_ stamen; _C_ transverse section of ovary; _D_ gynœceum, with one carpel bisected longitudinally, and the third removed; _E_ fruit after dehiscence; _F_ longitudinal section of a seed.] =C.= COLCHICEÆ.--_Colchicum_ (Autumn Crocus); perennial herbs, with a long, _funnel-shaped, gamophyllous perianth_, and introrse anthers. The flowers of _C. autumnale_ spring up immediately from the underground stem, which is in reality a _corm_ formed of one internode. ~_Colchicum autumnale_ flowers in autumn without leaves; in spring the radical foliage-leaves appear simultaneously with the fruit. The flower is protogynous, and is pollinated by insects (humble-bees, etc.) which seek the honey secreted by the free part of the stamen a little way down the tube. The length of the tube protects the fruit, and not, as in other cases, the nectary.--_Bulbocodium_ and _Merendera_ have unguiculate perianth-leaves, free, but closing together like a tube.~ 175 species; chiefly in North America and South Africa. _Tofieldia_ is an Arctic plant. The order is rich in pungent, poisonous alkaloids (veratrin, colchicin, etc.). OFFICINAL; the seeds of _Colchicum autumnale_ (Europe) and _Schœnocaulon officinale_ (Mexico), and the rhizome of _Veratrum album_ (mountains of Central Europe).