SMILAX FAMILY 173 



Family 26. SMILACACEAE. SMILAX FAMILY. 



Vines, with several-ribbed and netted-veined leaf-blades, articulate to 

 the petioles. Flowers dioecious, in peduncled axillary umbels. Sepals -md 

 petals each 3, green, with spreading tips. Stamens 6; filaments flattened- 

 anthers mtrorse. Gynoecium of 3 united carpels; stigmas 3, sessile. Fruit 

 a berry, 1-6-seeded. Endosperm bony. 



1. NEMEXIA Raf. CARRION FLOWER, SMILAX. 



Unarmed vines, with herbaceous stems. Leaves membranous, broad. Ovules 

 2 in each cavity. Berry blue-black, with 3 bands of strengthening tissue. [Smi- 

 lax, in part.] 



1. N. lasioneuron (Hook) Rydb. A herbaceous vine, 1-2 m. long; petioles 

 2-5 cm. long; leaf-blades ovate-cordate, abruptly short-acuminate, 5-10 cm. 

 long, 5-9-ribbed, rather thin, glabrous above, scabrous-hirsutulous on the veins 

 beneath; peduncles 4-7 cm. long; umbel many-flowered; flowers greenish; petals 

 and sepals oblong, 4 mm. long; fruit 8-10 mm. thick, globose, purple with a 

 bloom. Smilax lasioneuron Hook. -S. herbacea Coult. Woods: Sask. Kans. 

 Colo. Wyo. Plain Submont. My-Je. 



Family 27. AMARYLLIDACEAE. AMARYLLIS FAMILY. 



Perennial fleshy plants, with bulbs, corms, rootstocks, or woody caudices. 

 Leaves basal, usually sheathing. Flowers perfect, racemose, paniculat . 

 umbellate or solitary. Sepals and petals each 3, epigynous, often unit 1 

 into a tube below, petaloid. Stamens 6. Gynoecium of 3 united carpels; 

 ovary inferior, 3-celled, or rarely only partially so; styles united. Fruit a 

 3-celled capsule or berry. 



Perennial herbs, with fleshy leaves (often spiny-toothed), clustered on the caudex; 



anthers versatile; flowers in soikes or panicles. 1. AGAVE. 



Perennial herbs, with grass-like leaves, from a subterranean corm or short rootstock; 



anthers erect ; flowers in ours umb ellate. 2. HYPOXIS. 



1. AGAVE L. AMERICAN ALOE, CENTURY PLANT. 



Partially woody plants, with a more or less elongated caudex. Leaves crowded 

 at the base, persistent several years, fleshy, thick, armed with spiny teeth, 

 spine-tipped, channeled. Perianth withering-persistent. Stamens 6; filaments 

 partly adnate to the perianth-tube; anthers versatile. Capsule 3-celled, thick- 

 walled; seeds numerous, in 2 rows in each ceh 1 , black, flattened. 



1. A. utahensis Engelm. Leaves very fleshy, 8-10 cm. long, terminating 

 in a long channeled spine, sinuate, with flat teeth; spike dense; flowers in pairs 

 or 4's; perianth yellowish, fully 1 cm. long; lobes oblong, obtuse, 3-4 times as 

 long as the tube; capsule 18-20 mm. long. Desert regions: s Utah Ariz. 

 Son. 



2. HYPOXIS L. STAR-GRASS. 



Acaulescent small herbs, with corms or short rootstocks and narrow grass-like 

 basal leaves. Flowers perfect, regular. Sepals and petals each 3, equal, dis 

 tinct above the ovary, yellow or whitish, the sepals green without. Stamens 6; 

 filaments adnate only to the base of the perianth, short. Capsule 3-rellec 



1. H. hirsuta (L.) Coville. Leaves narrowly linear, 2-5 mm. wide, longer 

 than the scape, more or less villous; scape 5-15 cm. high, 1-6-flowercd; 

 umbellate, 6-10 mm. long, bright yellow within, villous without. H. crtct.i 

 Meadows: Me. Fla. Tex. Sask. Plain. My-O. 



Family 28. IRIDACEAE. IRIS FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs, with elongated or bulb-like rootstocks and narrow equi- 

 tant, 2-ranked leaves. Flowers perfect, regular or nearly so. 



