74 SMILACEAE. 



Family 4. SMILACEAE Vent. 

 SMIL AX FAMILY. 



Mostly vines with woody or herbaceous, often prickly stems. Leaves 

 alternate, netted-veined, several-nerved, petioled. Petiole sheathing, bear- 

 ing a pair of slender tendril-like appendages, persistent, the blade falling 

 away. Flowers small, mostly green, dioecious, in axillary umbels, perianth- 

 segments 6. Stamens mostly 6, distinct; filaments ligulate; anthers basi- 

 fixed, 2-celled, introrse. Ovary 3-celled, the cavities opposite the inner 

 perianth-segments; ovules 1 or 2 in each cavity, orthotropous ; style very 

 short or none ; stigmas 1-3. Fruit a globose berry containing 1-6 brownish 

 seeds. Endosperm horny, copious; embryo small, oblong, remote from the 

 hilum. Genera 3, species about 200, in warm and temperate regions. 



1. SMIL AX L. 



Rootstocks usually large and tuberous, stems usually twining,- and climbing 

 by means of the coiling appendages of the petiole. Lower leaves reduced to 

 scales. Flowers regular. Perianth-segments distinct, deciduous. Pedicels 

 borne on a globose or conic receptacle, inserted in small pits, generally among 

 minute bractlets. Filaments inserted on the bases of the perianth-segments. 

 Staminate flowers, without an ovary. Pistillate flowers usually smaller than the 

 staminate, usually with 1-6 abortive stamens. Berry black, red or purple 

 (rarely white), with strengthening bands of tissue running through the outer 

 part of the pulp, connected at the base and apex. [Ancient Greek name, per- 

 haps not originally applied to these plants.] About 225 specie's of wide dis- 

 tribution, most abundant in tropical America and Asia. Type species: Smilax 

 aspera L. 



Smilax Bona-nox L., North American, was seen in 1912 in thickets and 

 planted borders at Mt. Langdon. It is a branched vine, somewhat prickly, 

 with halberd-shaped pointed leaves. Lefroy records the naturalization of a 

 species of this genus at Camden, under the name Smilax sagittaefolia, called 

 Sarsaparilla. Reade notes the plant grown, used and sold as Sarsaparilla 

 is the Virginia Creeper, Partlienocissus quinquefolia, and this remark is yet 

 true. Verill states that Smilax sagittaefolia Lodd. is the same as S. aspera L. 



Smilax officinalis Kunth, South American, with ovate-oblong, cordate, 

 acute, glabrous and shining leaves about 6' long, was represented in the collec- 

 tion at the Agricultural Station in 1913. 



Family 5. DRACAENACEAE Link. 

 DRACAENA FAMILY. 



Shrubby plants or trees, with woody caudices which are generally 

 copiously leafy. Leaves alternate : blades narrow, firm or rigid, sometimes 

 with marginal filaments, often finely toothed. Flowers in racemes or 

 panicles. Sepals and petals 3 each, but little dissimilar. Stamens 6. 

 Filaments distinct, sometimes partially adnate to the perianth. Anthers 

 2-celled. Carpels 3, united. Ovary superior, 1-3 celled. Styles united, 

 sometimes very short or obsolete during anthesis, but manifest in fruit. 

 Ovules 2-several, or many in each cavity. Fruit a primarily loculicidal 

 capsule, or berry-like and indehiseent. About 8 genera and upward of 100 

 species, mostly of tropical distribution. 



