^.510 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. TART 111. 



Genus I. 



m 



SMVLAK L. The Smilax. Lin. Syst. DioeVia Hexandria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 1120. ; Reich., No. 1225. ; Schreb., No. 1528. ; Tourn., t. 421. ; Juss., 

 42. ; Ga6rtn.,t. 16. ; Mart. Mill. 



Description, c^r. Evergreen shrubs, climbing by means of their tendrils, 

 with stems that are generally prickly. Leaves with veiny disks. The ten- 

 drils are intrapetiolar stipules. Natives of Europe and North America. In 

 British gardens, they grovvf in sandy loam, and are readily propagated by divi- 

 sion of the root. They are not showy, but they are intei-esting from their 

 twining character, as being generally evergreens, and as being some of the few 

 hardy ligneous plants which belong to the grand division of vegetables Mono- 

 cotyledoneae. The species being little cultivated, and many of those which 

 are being seldom seen in flower, are very imperfectly known by cultivators. 

 The greatest number of species are at Messrs. Loddiges's, in the Botanic 

 Garden at Twickenham, and at Kew, Plants, in the London nurseries, are 

 from 2s. to 5s. each, according to the scarcity of the species. 



The following fungi are found upon the North American species : — Sphee'ria 

 .tmilacicola Schwein, S. erumpens Scliwcin, Rhvtisma Aiiilacis Schwein, chiefly 

 on S. /aurifolia and iS'. rotundifolia ; Hysterium ^milacis Schwein, on S. rotundi- 

 folia ; Cladosporium 5'iiiilacis Fr., [/redo 5'milacis Schwein^ ^cidium ^milacis 

 Schwein. — M.J. B. 



§ i. Stems prickly and angular. 

 fl- 1. 5. a'spera L. The rough Smilax. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1458.; Gron. Orient., 316. ; Scop. Cam., No. 1221.; Gouan Hort. Monsp., 



505. ; Vill Dauph., 3. ;>. 272. ; Mart. Mill., No. 1. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Synonytnes. Rough Bindweed ; Smilax, Fr. and Ger. 

 Engraoings. Schk. Han., 3. 328. ; and our fig. 2381. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Stem prickly, angular ; leaves toothed and prickly, cordate, 

 9-nerved. (JVi/ld.) A native of the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and 

 Africa. Cultivated in the Oxford Botanic Garden in 1648. 



Varieti/. 



1 S.a.2 auriculata Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. iii. p. 40L, has the leaves ear- 

 shaped at the base. 



Description, S)-c. An evergreen climbing shrub, with numerous slender an- 

 gular stems, armed with short crooked spines, and having tendrils on their 

 sides, by which they fasten themselves to any neighbour- 

 ing object for support. The roots are thick and fleshy, 

 " spreading wide, and striking deep." The leaves are 

 rather large, and heart-shaped ; somewhat stiff", of a 

 dark green, marked with 5 longitudinal nerves, and with 

 a few short reddish spines round their margins. The 

 flowers are axillary, on shorfbranches, small and whitish ; 

 and those on the female plants are succeeded by berries, 

 which are sometimes red and sometimes black. It is a 

 native of the south of France, Italy, Spain, and Carniola; 

 and it has also been found near Tripoh, and between 

 Rama and Joppa. It is stated, in Martyn's Miller, to 

 have been introduced by Mr. John Tradescant, in 1G5G ; 

 but the Hortus Keivcnsu informs us that it was cultivated in the Oxford 

 Botanic Garden l)efore 1648. The roots arc sometimes sold by the druggists 



