﻿Small: Botany of Southeastern United States G07 



In woods, western Florida, summer. 



Near to Melanthmm Virginicum but with a different aspect, the 

 leaves are longer and narrower and the panicle, instead of being 

 narrow and with an elongated central axis, is broad, with few 

 corymbosely arranged widely ascending branches and no prolonged 



main axis. 



disp 



of Melanthmm Virginicum from Florida and the Northern States, 

 in addition to the above cited characters, we find the pedicels to be 

 much stouter, and much more widely separated, the flowers less 

 crowded, there being only about one half as many to each panicle 

 and the segments of the perianth with shorter claws. 



The specimens on which the species is based were collected by 



M 



v Smilax tenuis. 



Perennial, unarmed. Stems herbaceous, elongated, apparently 

 I meter long or longer, commonly simple, slender, glabrous : 

 leaves rather few; blades thin, triangular-ovate, 5-9 cm. long, 

 acuminate, coarsely erose-denticulate, 5-nerved, with an incon- 

 spicuous sprinkling of minute hairs beneath, truncate at the base : 

 petioles slender, as long as the blades or shorter : tendrils few, 

 filiform, sometimes developed from the sheaths of the upper leaves : 

 peduncles as long as the subtending leaves or longer, nearly fili- 

 form • rvwKr^lQ (staminate) 15-25, 6-8 mm. long : perianth green- 



2.5 mm. long : filaments 



ish 



g or imcdi -wwii^ 



, — & 



barely twice as long as the anthers. 



In woods, Louisana. Spring. 



The nearest described relative of Smilax tenuis is Smilax pedun- 

 cularis, but the two species differ conspicuously in habit, the former 

 is quite robust while the latter is very slender. The triangular- 

 ovate leaf blades with their truncate bases and delicate nerves form 

 a strong contrast with the larger, broader and thicker leaf blades 

 of Smilax peduncular^ with their cordate bases and very stout 

 prominent and more numerous nerves. The perianth of the newly 

 described species is barely one half as large as that of its relative. 

 The original specimens were collected by Dr. Hale, many years 

 ago in Louisiana. 



Smilax diversifolia. 

 Perennial, unarmed. Stems herbaceous 1-3 meters long, climb- 

 ing, simple or sparingly branched, purplish : leaves numerous ; blades 



