208 ^ POPULAR FLOKA. 



96. PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY. Order PONTEDERIACEiE. 



Is represented by three or four plants in this country, of which much the commonest 

 is the 



Pickerel-iveed. PontecTcna. 



Perianth blue, of G divisions, unequally united below into a tube ; the 3 Tipper divisions most 

 united and making a 3-lobed upper lip, the 3 lower spreading and separate some \vay down, making 

 a lower lip: after expanding, for one day only, the upper part coils up and Avithers awav, >vliilc tlie 

 base of the tube thickens and encloses the small one-seeded fruit. Stamens C; the 3 lower on slender 

 projectmg filaments; the 3 upper inserted lower down on the tube, with very short filaments and 

 generally imperfect anthers. Style 1 : stigma 3-Iobed. Stout herbs in shallow -water, with long- 

 petioled leaves and long peduncles or few-leaved stems (their leaves ■with sheathing footstalks, the 

 uppermost one merely a sheathing spathe or bract), bearing a spike of flowers. 



1. Common Pickeuel-aveed. Stems 2° or 3° high; leaves thickish, lance-ovate or ovate-oblong, and 

 generally more or less heart-shaped at the base. Common everywhere; fl. all summer. P. curdala. 



07. GREEI^EBIEB EAMILY. Order SMILACEiE. 

 Of this iamily, as here arranged, avc have only a single genus, viz. : — 



Greenbrier. Smilax. 



Known at once b}' being climbing plants (or disposed to climb) and having a tendril on each side 

 of the footstalk of the leaf; and bv the leaves being veinv between the ribs, almost as in Kxcoens, 

 alternate, sometimes evergreen, simple, and entire. Plov/ers dioecious, in axillary umbels. Perianth 

 generally of G equal and spreading greenish or yellowish separate pieces. Tlie sterile flowers have as 

 many stamens, with oblong or linear one-celled anthers fixed by their base to the filament, and turned 

 inwards. The fertile flowers have a round ovary, with 3 short spreading styles or stigmas. Fruit 

 a berry, with 2 or few large seeds. FI. summer, 



* Stems woody and often prickly, yellowish-green : ovary and berry 2-ceIled and 2-seeded, black when 



ripe, generally with a bluish bloom. 



1. Common G. or Catdkieu. Leaves thickish, round-ovate or slightly heart-shaped, and with 5 to 



9 ribs, green both sides ; branchlets often square; prickles short; peduncles of the umbel not longer 

 than the petiole. ^loist thickets. S. roiundifblia. 



2. Glaucous G. Leaves ovate, glaucous beneath ; peduncles longer than the petiole : otherwise 



nearly as Ko. 1. S. (/lauca. 



3. BuiSTLY G. Leaves ovate and heart-shaped, large and thin, green both sides ; stem below covered 



with long and weak blackish bristly prickles ; peduncles much longer than the petioles. Thickets, 

 N. and Vr. ^\ hiqnda. 



4. Lauickl-leaved G. Not prickly; leaves lance-oblong or lance-linear, thick and evergreen, with' 



3 to 5 ribs; i^eduncles of the umbel very short. Sandy soil, S. S. Invrifblia. 



* * Stem lierbaceous, climbing, not prickly: ovary and blue-black beny 3-celled, G-seeded. 



5. Caukiox-floweu G. Leaves thin, pale, mostly heart-shaped, v»'ith 7 to 9 ribs, sometimes rather 



downy beneath, long-petioled; peduncles 3' to 8' long, longer than the leaves; flovrcrs of the odor 

 of carrion. }iIeadows and river-banks. , S. herbacea. 



