44 LILY FAMILY 



1-2 ft. long. Capsule nodding. Trunk 2-10 ft. tall. Leaves 

 many, rigid, sharp-pointed, 1-3 ft. long, rather narrow, dilated 

 at base. Sandy soil, chiefly near the coast. Blooming in 

 spring and summer. Fla. to N. C. and La. 



Yucca filamentosa. No trunk. Flowering-stem 3-10 ft. 

 tall. Capsule erect. Leaves 1-2 ft. long, with threads on mar- 

 gins. Sandy soil. Blooming in spring and summer. Fla. to 

 N. C. and Miss. 



Smilax. G-reenbriar. Bamboo-Briar. Catbriar. 



Squirrel-Briar. Horsebriar. Bullbriar. 



(Genus Smilax) 



Climbing over shrubs on the roadsides, and on tall trees 

 in the swamps, forming impenetrable masses of inter- 

 twined prickly stems covered by shining leaves, and bearing 

 clusters of red, green, or black berries, species of smilax 

 are abundant through the state, and are known by many 

 names. As catbriars they scratch, and as squirrel-briars 

 they climb ; ^'bull" and "horse" are terms formerly applied 

 to many plants of stout growth. 



Although allied to the lilies, the beauty of smilax is 

 not in its flowers but in its luxuriant growth. The leaf- 

 form is different in the different species, but great varia- 

 tion is found in vines of the same species, and even in the 

 leaves of one vine. In the majority the leaves are widened 

 at the base ; those, however, of the evergreen laurel-leaved 

 smilax, S. launfolia, one of our largest species, are nar- 

 rowed at the base. This smilax, common in swamps, bears 

 conspicuous clusters of berries which do not mature until 

 the second year. The fragrant flowers of S. Beyrichii 

 agreeably perfume the air in spring. Unarmed stems of the 

 trailing S. pumila, which bears orange-yellow berries, lie 

 on the ground in shaded places. 



The flowers of this division of the lily family are 

 dioecius, i.e., the stamens and pistil are in separate 

 ;flowers, and on different plants; the leaves are netted- 



