YAM FAMILY 48 1 



edged coronet, are occasionally found near houses, but are in- 

 variably the outcasts of gardens. 



2. Galanthus (Snowdrop). — Bulbous plants with 2 radical, 

 linear leaves ; flattened peduncle ; membranous spathe ; solitary, 

 drooping, white ftower ; perianth of 6 free segments, the outer 

 larger and more spreading, the inner erect, notched, greenish ; no 

 coronet. (Name from the Greek gala, milk, anthos, a flower.) 



I. G. nivalis (Snowdrop). — Too well known to need description. 

 The bulb is ovoid and \ in. across ; the leaves glaucous, keeled, blunt; 

 the peduncle longer ; the spathe colourless, transparent, with 2 green 

 veins, 2-fid ; the pedicel slender ; the sepals obovate, concave, and 

 more spreading in the wild form than in cultivated ones. — Woods in 

 the west ; doubtfully indigenous. — Fl. January — March. Perennial. 



3. Leucojum (Snowflake). — A closely allied genus, with more 

 than 2 leaves; 2 spathes ; i — 6 flowers; and nearly equal 

 perianth-leaves all thickened at their tips ; stamens 6, equal. 

 (Xame from the Greek leukos, white, ion, a violet.) 



1. L. cestivmn (Summer Snowflake). — A bulbous plant, about 

 2 feet high, producing its linear, blunt, glaucous, keeled leaves, 

 which are about a foot long, in winter, and its 2-edged flower-stalk, 

 which is rather longer and bears 2 — 6 rather large white flowers, 

 in summer. — Wet meadows in the south-east of England ; a 

 doubtful native, common in gardens. — Fl. May. Perennial. 



2. L. vernum (Spring Snowflake). — A much smaller plant, pro- 

 ducing its leaves and flowers, of which it only bears i, or 2 

 together, in early spring. — Woods in Dorsetshire. — Fl. February 

 ^April. Perennial. 



Ord. LXXXI. Diosc6re.€. — Yam Family 



A small Order of twining herbs or shrubs, which, with the 

 exception of the Black Bryony {Tdmiis communis), our one British 

 species, are confined to tropical regions. They often have large 

 tubers; their stems twine upwards in the direction of the hands of 

 a clock ; the leaves somewhat resemble those of Dicotyledons, 

 being distinctly stalked and net-veined ; the flowers are small, 

 inconspicuous, and dioecious, in axillary clusters ; the perianth 

 green, superior, of 6 equal segments in 2 whorls, persistent ; 

 stamens 6, \sith introrse anthers ; ovary inferior, 3-chambered ; 

 style deeply 3-cleft ; fruit a drj^, flat capsule, or, in Tdmus, a berry. 

 Dioscorea, the genus from which the Order takes its name, has 

 large tubers, which, under the name of Yams, form as important 

 an article of food in tropical countries as the Potato in temperate 

 climates. When growing they require support, like Hops. There 

 I I 



