An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions/Burmanniaceae
Family 31.
Burmanniàceae
Blume,
Enum. Pl Jav. 1: 27.
1830*.
Burmannia Family.
Low annual herbs, with filiform stems and fibrous roots. Leaves basal or reduced to cauline scales or bracts. Flowers regular, perfect, the perianth with 6 small thick lobes, its tube adnate to the ovary. Stamens 3 or 6, included, inserted on the tube of the perianth; anthers 2-celled, the sacs transversely dehiscent. Style slender; stigmas 3, dilated; ovary inferior, with 3 central or parietal placentae. Ovules numerous. Capsule many-seeded. Seeds minute, oblong; endosperm none.
Ten genera and about 70 species, widely distributed in tropical regions. The family is represented in North America by the following genus and by Apteria of the Gulf States.
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* Text contributed to the first edition by the late Rev. Thomas Morong.
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1. Burmánnia L. Sp. Pl. 287. 1753.
Erect herbs, with simple stems and small alternate scale-like leaves. Tube of the perianth strongly 3-angled or 3-winged, the 3 outer lobes longer than the inner. Stamens 3, opposite the inner perianth-lobes. Filaments very short; connective of the anthers prolonged beyond the sacs into a 2-cleft crest. Ovary 3-celled, with 3 thick 2-lobed central placentae; stigmas globose or 2-lobed. Capsule crowned by the perianth, opening by irregular lateral ruptures. [In honor of Johann Burmann, Dutch botanist of the eighteenth century.]
About 20 species, natives of warm regions. Besides the following, another occurs in the southeastern States. Type species: Burmannia disticha L.