488 
SMILACEJE. (SMILAX FAMILY.) 
pictum, Pursh.) —Cold damp woods, common northward. May, 
June. — Petals F long. Berry ovoid, red. — At Brunswick, Maine, 
Mr. Sparrow finds many specimens with the calyx changed to leaves, 
and the petals often increased in number; in cultivation the floral or¬ 
gans become entirely abortive. Similar monstrosities are sometimes 
seen in T. grandiflorum; as well as an increased number of stamens 
and styles. 
* * * Flower closely sessile , erect: petals nearly persistent. 
6. X. sessile, L. Leaves ovate or oblong, sessile or nearly so; 
petals dark dull purple , lanceolate , erect , rather longer but not broader 
than the sepals. — Rich woods, Penn, and westward. April, May. 
— Stem 6' - 8' high. Petals 1' long. 
3. MEDEOLA, Gronov. Indian Cucumber-root. 
Flowers perfect. Perianth revolute, of 3 sepals and 3 petals 
which are oblong and alike (pale greenish-yellow), deciduous. 
Stamens 6 : filaments thread-like, longer than the linear-oblong 
anthers, which are attached by their back near the base. Styles 3, 
recurved-diverging, long and thread-form (stigmatic along the up¬ 
per side), deciduous. Berry spherical (dark purple), 3-celled, 
few-seeded. —A perennial herb with a simple slender stem (cloth¬ 
ed with flocculent deciduous wool) rising from a horizontal and 
tuberous white rootstock (which has the taste of the cucumber), 
bearing a whorl of 5 — 9 obovate-lanceolate and pointed sessile 
leaves near the middle, and another of 3 smaller ovate ones at the 
top, subtending a sessile umbel of small recurved flowers. (Nam¬ 
ed after the sorceress Medea , from the altogether imaginary no¬ 
tion that it possessed great medicinal virtues.) 
1. M. Virglnica, L. (Gyrdmia, JYutt.) — Rich damp wood?. 
June. Stem 1° - 3P high. 
Order 121. EILIACEiE. (Lily Family.) 
Herbs , with parallel-nerved sessile or sheathing leaves, 
regular perfect 6- (rarely 4-) androus flowers with the pe> m 
tahlike consimilar 6 -merous perianth free from the 2-3* 
celled ovary , introrse anthers attached by a point , and the 
style single. — Stigmas 3, or combined into one. Fruit a 
3-valved loculicidal pod or a berry, many - few-seeded. 
Embryo slender or minute, in fleshy albumen. 
