LILIACEA. 171 
about the size of white mustard seed. Plant quite glabrous, the 
leaves green and shining, paler beneath. 
All the so-called species of Tamus appear to be only sub-species. 
The T. Cretica, with 3-lobed leaves, indeed, is possibly only a variety 
of T. (eu-)communis; but perhaps the T. edulis (Lowe) may be a 
ver-species, but I have seen no specimens. 
Black Bryony. 
French, Tamisier commun. German, Gemeine Schmeerwurz. 
This is the only British representative of a family of plants that afford several 
useful esculents in tropical countries, comprising the yams which form a substitute 
for potatoes in some districts of the torrid zone. The root of our British species 
resembles that of the yam, and is thick and tuberous and full of starch, but of too acrid 
a quality to be used safely as food. It was formerly employed as an irritant external 
application in rheumatism, the fresh root being simply scraped and spread as a 
plaister. The young shoots of the plant, when just emerging from the ground, may 
be eaten like asparagus, after first soaking them in water, and boiling them for some 
time. 
No plant that our island produces is more interesting than the common Bryony, or 
more pleasing to watch in its development. The raphides seen under the microscope 
in its rootstock, stem, leaves, and fruit, are very remarkable. Mr. Gulliver remarks 
that the essential connection of raphides with the cell life of the species is illustrated’ 
by the constant abundance of these bodies in the red berries of Tamus and Arum, and 
the absence of raphides from the berries of other plants growing side by side with 
them in the very same soil. Irrespective of its scientific interest under the micro- 
scope, the Black Byrony is one of the most elegant of our native plants. The young 
shoots come up tenderly in April and May, and make so little show as scarcely to be 
seen. As the season advances, they ascend bushes and small trees, till, far above our 
heads, they form wreaths and festoons of a most picturesque appearance. Hvery 
variety of the cordate leaf is to be seen on the stems, some being long and narrow, 
others broad and rounded, yet all conformable to the primitive type. The petioles 
supply beautiful ribbon-like spiral vessels, which when properly prepared become 
fine objects for the polariscope. When the berries are ripe, they hang together like 
little grapes ; the foliage turns at the same time to a tawny yellow, and if it shrivels, 
it is only to bring out so much better the shining scarlet, the abundant and bead- 
like fruit. 
ORDER LXXXIV.—LILIACE A. 
Perennial herbs, rarely with a perennial leafy, or in a few foreign 
species sometimes an arborescent stem. Rootstock generally a tuni- 
cated bulb or creeping rhizome. Leaves simple, entire or (rarely) 
serrate, sheathing at the base, often linear-lorate and parallel-veined, 
sometimes oblong or cordate; in the latter cases with distinct petioles, 
with the venation cancellate or consisting of a central midrib, from 
Z2 
