486 



LILIACE^ 



tened branches, each terminating in a sharp spine ; flowers minute, 

 green, growing singly from the centres of the flattened branches ; 

 berries as large as marbles, round, scarlet. — Woods in the south ; 

 uncommon. — Fl. February — May. Perennial. 



2. Asparagus. — Herbaceous plants with a stout rhizome; 

 branched stem bearing tufts of green, bristle-like branches in the 



axils of minute scale-like 

 leaves; flowers small, pen- 

 dulous, often dioecious ; peri- 

 anth deeply 6-cleft, bell- 

 shaped ; stamens 6, distinct ; 

 stigmas 3 ; fruit berry-like, 

 3-chambered, 3 — 6-seeded. 

 (Name, the Greek name of the 

 plant. ) 



I. A. maritimus (Common 

 Asparagus). — The only British 

 species, differing chiefly in size 

 from the cultivated plant, has 

 its stem prostrate at its base, 

 giving off ascending branches 

 about a foot long, slender, 

 and flexuous ; flowers i — 2 

 together, yellowish - white ; 

 berry scarlet. — On the sea- 

 coast in the south-west, especi- 

 ally near the Lizard; rare. — 

 Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



3. POLYGONATUM (Solo- 



mon's Seal). — Herbaceous 



plants with a fleshy rhizome; 



leafy stem; axillary flowers; 



tubular, 6 - cleft perianth ; 



stamens 6, free, included ; fruit 

 berry-like, (Name from the Greek polus, many, gonu, a knee, 

 from the zigzag rhizome.) 



1. P. verticilldtum (Narrow-leaved Solomon's Seal). — 5/^w erect, 

 2 — 3 feet high, angular ; leaves sessile, linear-lanceolate, in whorls 

 of 3 — 6 ; flowers greenish ; berries red. — Woods in the north ; very 

 rare. — Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



2. P. multiflorum (Common Solomon's Seal). — A striking plant, 

 I — 2 feet high, with a round, drooping stem, bearing numerous, 



aspAragus maritimus (Common Asparagics). 



