2 86 LlliaceCB. [Asparagus. 



Stem tall, subscandent, and branches terete, smooth, 

 armed, branchlets very slender, flexuous, spines J-| in. ; 

 cladodes solitary and 2-6 nate, 4-6 in. long by 1^2-^ in- broad, 

 narrowly ensiform, falcate, flat, costate, narrowed into the 

 acicular tip; racemes |-f in., often subcorymbiform, laxly 

 few-fld., rhachis filiform, bracts minute, cymbiform, pedicels 

 tV-^ in., capillary, jointed below the middle; perianth yV in. 

 diam., segm. oblong, obtuse; anth. minute, subglobose; berry 

 ■J in. diam., 1-3-seeded. 



Moist and intermediate region up to 4000 ft. ; common. Fl. Sept., 

 Oct.; white, sweet-scented. 

 Young shoots eaten. 



4. A. gronoclados, Baker in J our 71. Linn. Soc. xiv. 627 (1875). 

 Trim. Syst. Cat. 94. C. P. 2299 (part) (737 in Herb. Kew). 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 318. 



An excessively branched, subscandent, armed undershrub; 

 stem terete, branches curved, green, triquetrous ; spines 

 short; cladodes 2-6-nate, i-i^ in. long by -^V in. broad, flat, 

 straight, or falcate, subcostate, narrowed to the acuminate 

 base and tip; racemes 1-3 in., often fascicled, sometimes 

 connate, pedicels ^V-tj in., jointed much below the middle, 

 bracts as long as the lower joint of the pedicel, cymbiform ; 

 perianth tV-tV in- across, segm. spreading, outer linear-oblong, 

 inner more spathulate ; anth. much shorter than the fil, ; 

 berry globose, \ in. diam., or didymous and twice as broad. 



Moist region ; not uncommon in the low country. Kandy; Hantane; 

 Peradeniya; DoUiwe Kande, &c. Fl. white. 



Also in S. India. 



Baker describes the pedicels as jointed in the middle, and so they 

 are in Nilgiri, Kurg, and Concan specimens; but in all the Ceylon ones 

 they are jointed towards the base. There are, in Herb. Peraden., 

 specimens of a plant collected by Dr. Trimen in the mountains of the 

 N.E. Block (Knuckles Mt. and Nitre Cave districts), and doubtfully 

 considered by him to be a new species. These differ somewhat from 

 typical A. ^onoclados in having rather broader cladodes {i^-} in.,) 

 shorter perianth-lobes and filaments. They are undistinguishable from 

 specimens of A. CEikiopici/s, L., var. /3, Baker (Flor. Capcns. vi. 272), a 

 native of Natal. On showing them to Mr. Baker (who has studied the 

 whole genus), he expressed himself disposed to doubt A. gonoclados 

 being specifically distinct from A. athiopicus.—]. D. H. 



A. sarvientflsus, L., is figured in Herm. Hort. Lugd.-Bat. tt. 63 and 

 650, with a full description, and is Fl. Zeyl. n. 124; but there is no 

 specimen in Hermann's Herb. It appears to be either A. gonoc/ados or 

 a small-leaved A. falcatiis. Koenig's Ceylon specimens in Mus. Brit, 

 labelled A. saroicnfosus are A. raccmostts. The name has unfortunately 

 been transferred to a Cape species by modern botanists, with which it 

 can have nothing to do (see Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 139). — Trimen. 



