CXXXII. LILIACE.'E. 761 



1. ASPARAGUS, Linn. 



Undershrubs ; steins erect, straggling or climbing, terete, grooved or 

 angled ; rootstock stout, creeping. Leaves minute, scale-like, bearing 

 in their axils tufts of needle-like or flattened cladodes. Flowers herma- 

 phrodite (in the Bombay species), small or minute, axillary, solitary, 

 fasciculate or racemose, pendulous ; pedicels jointed ; bracts minute or 

 obsolete. Perianth petaloid, 6-partite, campanulate or funnel-shaped. 

 Stamens 6, adnate to the base of the perianth-segments ; filaments free ; 

 anthers oblong. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules 2 or more in each cell ; style 

 columnar ; stigmas 3, recurved. Fruit a globose pvilpy berry. Seeds 

 few or by abortion solitary, subglobose ; testa black, fragile ; embryo 

 dorsal ; albumen hard. — Distrib, Europe and Temperate and Tropical 

 Asia and Africa ; species about 1 00. 



Flowers in axillary clusters, not racemose. 



An erect straggling uudershrub ; leaves with small spinous 

 spurs 2V ii"*- l^J'^g ■> cladodes mucronate, in clusters of 3-8, 



straight or falcate 1. A. dumosus. 



A subscandent undersbrub ; leaves with hard conical spinous 

 spurs \-\ in. long ; cladodes S-gonous, acuminate, in 



clusters of 3-5 2. A. Jacquemonti. 



Flowers racemose. 



Cladodes subulate or 3-quetrous. 



Cladodes short, less than J in. long; bracts large 3. A. l<svissimus. 



Cladodes more than ^ in. long, very slender ; bracts 



small 4. A. race?}iosus 



var. javanica. 

 Cladodes flattened, linear, j'o-tV ^^- wide, usually falcate ... 5. A. gonoclados. 



1. Asparagus dumosus, Baker, in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 14 (1874) 

 p. 608. A branched spreading diffuse undersbrub, 2 ft. high, the older 

 branches woody, the younger flexuous ; branchlets pale, glabrous, con- 

 spicuously striate, the striae often n)inutely scabrous. Leaves deltoid- 

 ovate, cuspidate, with a spur about t}-^ in. long at the base, standing out 

 from the branch. Cladodes ^-k hi. long, in clusters of 3-8, stout, linear, 

 channelled, mucronate. Flowers axillary, 2-4- nate ; pedicels J^ in. long, 

 filiform. Perianth rather more than g in. long, funnel-shaped ; seg- 

 ments oblanceolate. Stamens y\) in. long; anthers subglobose, 17L in. 

 in diam. Style -r^-^ in. long ; stigmas 3, spreading, about ^-q in. loug. 

 Berry ^ in. in diam. Fl. B. I. v. 6, p. 315 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 523. 



SiND : Sfocks, 441 ! ; Dalzell, 59 ! ; Jemadar ka Landa near Karachi, Stocks, 441 ! 

 Apparently endemic in Sind. 



2. Asparagus Jacquemonti, Baker, in Journ. Linn, Soc. v. 14 

 (1874) p. 615. A branched subscandent undersbrub ; stems terete, 

 quite smooth, with angular flexuous spreading or decurved branchlets. 

 Leaves spurred at the base with hard spines -^-5 in. long. Cladodes 

 3-5-nate, spreading, arcuate, 3-quetrous, |-| in. long. Flowers axillary, 

 solitary or in pairs, sometimes furnished with a short common peduncle; 

 pedicels ^-^ in. long, filiform, jointed above the middle. Perianth yL- 

 Jjj- in. loug ; segments oblong-obovate, obtuse, spreading. Anthers 

 about ^1^ in. in diam., globose. Style short. Berry not seen. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 6, p. 316 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) p. 523. 



Deccau : between Poona and Karli, Jacqucmonf, 526 ! 



