THE LEAVES: mostly basal; in a tuft-like whorl; light 

 yellow-green turning pinkish-yellow; lanceolate; two 

 inches to six inches long; hairless on both surfaces; 

 acuminate at the apex; narrowed at the base; entire; 

 parallel-veined; awl-shaped bracts, sometimes two to 

 each flower. 



THE FLOWERS: mealy, inconspicuous, on extremely short 

 stems; in a long raceme, which is four inches to ten 

 inches long; corolla tubular, six cleft at the top; six 

 stamens. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



A tall, pale, mealy-white spike rising from a whorl of 

 basal leaves, and standing stiff and erect here one, 

 and there close by, another so that all told quite a 

 colony of them is found growing on the sandy soil of 

 the Commons. This is the Colic-root or Star Grass; 

 its common names indicating its appearance as well as 

 its medicinal properties, for it is a bitter and strong 

 stomach tonic. 



LILIACE^E LILY FAMILY 



Smilax rotundifolia, L. 



Light green Green-brier, Nigger-head, 



Blue-black berries Horse-brier, Bamboo-brier, 



Cat-brier, Devil's Hop-vine, 



Wait-a-bit Hungry Nine 



May-June Biscuit-leaves, Bread-and-B utter. 



Smilax: a Greek word of obscure meaning. 

 Rotundifolia: Latin for round-leaved. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: thickets. 



THE PLANT: a vine; the stem and branches slightly zigzag, 

 hairless and covered with scattered prickles; branches 

 more or less square, although not nearly so much so as 



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