458 SMILACACEAE 



2. Streptopus curvipes \ ail. 

 Simple-stemmed Twisted-stalk." Fii^'. 1123. 



Strcftopiis curvipes Vail, Bull. Torrev. Club 28: 267. 

 1902. 



Rootstock slender, covered with few fibrous 

 rootlets. Stem simple. 1-3 dm. high, glabrous. 

 Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate. 3S cm. long, 

 acuminate at apex, rounded and slightly clasping 

 at base, the margins finely glandular-ciliate ; flow- 

 ers few usually 3-5 solitary; peduncles not gen- 

 iculate, 5-15 mm. long, glandular-pubescent; flow- 

 ers rose-colored, 5-7 mm. long, campanulate ; 

 perianth-segments lanceolate, scarcely spreading 

 at the apex, minutely glandular-pubescent on the 

 inner surface; anthers 2-beaked ; style 3-cleft; 

 lierry globose. 7-9 mm. in diameter. 



On moist wooded slopes, Humid Transition Zone; 

 Alaska to southern Oregon. Type locality: Asulkan Pass, 

 altitude 4400 ft., British Columbia. Closely related to the 

 eastern Streptopus roseus Michx., but distinguished by the 

 small simple stem, more elongate rootstock and shorter 

 peduncles. 



9. KRUHSEA Kegel, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Moscow. 11: 122. 1859. 



Glabrous simple stemmed herbs, with slendei' rootstocks. Leaves alternate, broad, sessile 

 or slightly clasping, several-nerved. Flowers usually solitary, extra axillary, nodding on 

 slender pedicels. Perianth-segments 6, equal, rotate spreading with reflexed tips. Stamens 

 6, hypogynous; filaments slender, very short; anthers acute, opening by lateral slits. Ovary 

 3-ceiled ; ovules numerous in 2 rows in each cavity ; style none ; stigma sessile. Berry globose, 

 red. [Name in honor of Dr. Krushe, of Siberia.] 



A monotypic genus of western North America and Siberia. 



1. Krushea streptopoides (Ledeb.) 



Kearney. 



Kruhsea. Fig. 1124. 



Smilaciiia streptopoides Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 128. 1853. 

 Kruhsea tilingiana Regel, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 



11 : 122. 1859. 

 Streptopus brevipes Baker, Tourn. Linn. Soc. 14: 592. 



1875. 

 Kruhsea streptopoides Kearnev in Ilerron. Expl. Alaska. 



Adj. Gen. Off. 31: 74. 1901. 

 Streptopus streptopoides Nelson & Macb. Bot. Gaz. 61 : 



30. 1916. 



Rootstock very slender, creeping. Stem simple, 

 10-20 cm. high, slender, glabrous or obscurely 

 scabrous ; leaves ovate-lanceolate. 3-5 cm. long, 

 acuminate at apex, rounded and slightly clasp- 

 ing at base ; flowers few, 1-5. solitary in the axils ; 

 pedicels recurved, about 10 mm. long in fruit ; 

 perianth-segments ovate-lanceolate, 2 mm. long ; 

 stamens less than half the length of the seg- 

 ments ; anthers scabrous ; berry red, about 4 min. 

 in diameter. 



In Alpine forests, Canadian Zone; Alaska to northern 

 Washington; also in Siberia. Type locality: Siberia. 



Family 20. SMILACACEAE. 

 S MILAN Family 

 ]\Iostly vines, with woody or herbaceous, often prickly stems arising from 

 rootstocks. Leaves alternate, petioled, net-veined, several-nerved, ustially punc- 

 tate, deciduous from the persistent sheathing petioles, these bearing at the base a 

 pair of tendril-like appendages. Flowers small, in axillary umbels, usually green, 

 dioecious. Perianth-segments 6, the two sets similar. Stamens mostly 6, distinct ; 

 filaments ligulate ; anthers basifixed, 2-celled, introrse. Ovary 3-celled, ovules 

 ] or 2 in each cavity, orthotropus. suspended : style very short or none : stigmas 

 1-3. Fruit a globose berry containing 1-6 seeds. Seeds brownish ; endosperm 

 horny, copious ; embryo small, oblong, remote from the hilum. 



Three genera and about 235 species, widely distributed in temperate and tropical zones; only the follow- 

 ing genus in North America. The roots of many species are employed in medicine, under the name of 

 Sarsaparilla. 



