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Gen. Ch. Mase. Cal. 6-phyllus. Cor. o. 
Fem. (Cal. 6-phyllus. Cor. 0. Styli 3. Bacca 3-lo- 
cularis. Sem. 2. 
Sp. Ch. S. caule aculeato teretiufculo, fol: inermibus ovato-cordatis 
quinquenerviis. . 
ROOT perennial, ligneous, befet with irregular knobs; externally 
of a reddifh brown colour, internally paler. Stems long, roundith, 
flender, jointed, woody, prickly, climbing, branched, furnifhed with 
~ clafpers. Leaves {mooth, ovate, or heart-fhaped, pointed, five-nerved, 
placed on footftalks. Flowers male and female on different plants, 
in clufters, of a yellowifh white, upon a flender common foottftalk, 
arifing at the axille of the leaves. The calyx of the male flower is 
_ divided into fix leafits, which are oblong, reflexed, and appear to 
occupy the place of the corolla, which is wanting. Filaments fix,. 
fimple, furnifhed with oblong antherz. The female flower differs from 
the male, in having no ftamina, but is fupplied with an ovate germen, 
fupporting three minute ftyles, terminated by oblong reflexed downy : 
ftigmata. Fruit a fmall round berry, of three cells; when ripe of a | 
red colour, and contains two round feeds. : 
This fpecies of Smilax is tolerably. well defcribed by Kempfer and 
Rumphius, but ftill more fully by Gmelin. It is a much taller fhrub 
than the S. Sarfaparilla, and grows to the greateft perfection in China, — 
Japan, and in fome parts of Perfia. It is alfo a native of Jamaica, 
but the occidental {pecies has been accounted lefs efficacious than the 
oriental. Mr. Aiton informs us, that it was firft cultivated in Britain 
by Miller : it feems however to be a tender plant, and is rarely brought © 
to flower in this country, even when placed in the beft ftoves, and 
under the dire€tion of the moft fcientific gardeners. ? 
According to Lewis, “ two forts of the roots are common in the 
_fhops, an oriental, and occidental; the firft, which is accounted the 
beft, is confiderably paler coloured, and harder than the other. Of 
either kind, fuch fhould be chofen, as is freth and heavy, and which, 
when cut, exhibits a clofe fmooth gloffy furface.” 
“« "Fhele 
