' * 258 LILIACES. [ ASPARAGUS. 
Seeds flattened; perianth campa- 
nulate . Z P o . 6. URGINEA. 
Underground perennial stem very small or 
(in Asphodelus) sometimes none ; root- 
fibres large, many, usually some or all 
fleshy or tuberous ; leaves radical; cap- 
sule loculicidal :— 
Ovules 2 in each cell; capsule 3-que- 
trous; leaves }4-terete or terete and 
fistular . _ ; : E . 7. ASPHODELUS. 
Ovules 4 or more in each cell; capsule 
deeply 3-winged ; leaves flat : . 8. CHLOROPHYTUM. 
1, ASPARAGUS, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. vi, 314. 
Undershruhs with a stout creeping rootstock. Stems erect, 
straggling or climbing, terete, grooved. Leaves minute, scale-like,. 
bearing in their axils tufts of needle-like or flattened axillary cla- 
dodes. Flowers usually 2-sexual, small or minute, axillary, solitary 
fascicled or in racemes, 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-gonons; style columnar ; 
stigmas 3, recurved ; ovules 2 or more ineachcell. Fruit a globose- 
pulpy berry. Seeds few or solitary by abortion; testa black, 
brittle, embryo dorsal, albumen hard.—Species about 100, im 
Europe Temp. and Trop. Asia and in Africa. 
Branches 3-quetrous, smooth ; spines suberect 
or subrecurved, 4-3 in. long; cladodes }-1 
in. long, in tufts of 2-6, slender falcate, 
acuminate, channelled beneath ; ovules 6-8 
in each cell.—A tall climbing much branched 
undershrub . . Ll. A. racemosus. 
Stem tall, stout, smooth; branches ashy- 
white, grooved and angled, the angles mi- 
nutely scabrid ; spines stout, straight, 4-2 
in. long; cladodes in dense tufts of 6-20, 
slender, terete, filiform, soft ; ovules many 
in each c2ll.—A suberect shrub . : . 2. A. adscendens. 
