D IOSCOREA CEA EIRID A CEA . 2 8 1 



7- LOPHIOLA Ker. 



An erect perennial herb with slender rootstocks, erect sparingly leafy stems, 

 the leaves narrowly linear and mostly basal, and numerous small yellowish flowers 

 in a terminal woolly cymose panicle. Perianth campanulate, persistent, of 6 nearly 

 equal woolly segments, slightly united at the base. Stamens inserted on the bases 

 of the perianth -segments ; filaments filiform, short ; anthers basifixed. Ovary 

 3-celied ; style subulate, at length 3 -cleft ; ovules numerous, in 2 rows in each 

 cavity. Capsule ovoid, finally loculicidally 3-valved at the summit. Seeds oblong, 

 numerous, ribbed. [Greek, referring to the tufts of wool on the perianth.] A 

 monotypic genus of southeastern N. A. 



i. Lophiola Americana (Pursh) A. Wood. LOPHIOLA. (I. F. f. 1067. ) Stem 

 stiff, terete, glabrous below, white-woolly above, 3-6 dm. tall. Leaves equitant, 

 glabrous, much shorter than the stem, the upper ones reduced to scales ; panicle 

 densely white- woolly, composed of numerous few-several-flowered cymes; pedicels 

 short, rather stout ; perianth-segments linear-lanceolate, about 4 mm. long, longer 

 than the stamens and with a tuft of wool at the base within ; capsule about as long 

 as the persistent style. Pine barren bogs, N. J. to Fla. June-Aug. 



Family 8. DIOSCOREACEAE Lindl. 

 Yam Family. 



Herbaceous or slightly woody twining vines with fleshy or woody 

 rootstocks, slender stems, petioled, mostly cordate, several-nerved and 

 reticulate-veined leaves, and small inconspicuous dioecious or monoe- 

 cious (in some exotic genera perfect) regular flowers in spikes, racemes or 

 panicles. Perianth 6-parted, that of the pistillate flowers persistent. 

 Staminate flowers with 6 or 3 stamens, sometimes with a rudimentary 

 ovary. Pistillate flowers with an inferior 3-celled ovary, 3 styles and 3 

 terminal stigmas, sometimes also with 3 or 6 staminodia; ovules 2 

 (rarely i) in each cavity of the ovary, pendulous, anatropous or amphit- 

 ropous. Fruit a 3-valved, 3-angled capsule in the following genus. 

 Endosperm of the seed fleshy or cartilaginous, enclosing the small 

 embryo. About 9 genera and 175 species, mostly natives of America, a 

 few in the Old World. 



x. DIOSCOREA L. 



Characters of the family as defined above. [Name in honor of the Greek nat- 

 turalist Dioscorides.] About 160 species, most numerous in tropical regions, a few 

 in the temperate zones. 



i. DioscoreavillosaL. WILD YAM-ROOT. (I. F. f. 1068.) Rootstock knotted - 

 horizontal, woody, 1.5-3 dm. thick. Stem 2-5 m. long, glabrous; leaves ovate, en- 

 tire, slender-petioled, alternate or the lower opposite or in 4*5, acuminate, cordate at 

 the base, 5-15 cm. long, g-13-nerved, thin, pale and more or less pubescent beneath; 

 flowers greenwish yellow, nearly sessile, the staminate 2-3 mm. broad in drooping 

 panicles, the pistillate about 6 mm. long in drooping spicate racemes; capsules 

 membranous, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, strongly 3-winged. In moist thickets, R. I. to 

 Ont., Minn., Fla. and Tex. June-July. Fruit ripe Sept., persistent on the vines 

 into the winter. 



Family 9. IRIDACEAE Lindl. 

 Iris Family. 



Perennial herbs with narrow equitant 2-ranked leaves and perfect, 

 mostly clustered flowers subtended by bracts. Perianth of 6 segments 

 or 6-lobed, its tube adruite to the ovary, the segments or lobes in two 

 series, convolute in the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 3, inserts 1 

 on the perianth opposite its outer series of segments or lobes ; filaments 



