male Smilax, winch he states was received from Kew as the [culti- 

 vated] Jamaica sarsaparilla. It is not included in the above descrip- 

 tion, because there is just an element of doubt of its being the same 

 species. The leaves might very well belong to S, utilis^ except that in 

 the flowering branches there is a much greater development of the basal 

 or leafy portion of the stipules, and no, or only rudimentary development 

 of tendrils. And the leaves disarticulate, apparently before the flowers 

 expand, just above the point on the petiole to which the stipules are 

 adnate. The flowers are in simple umbels, borne on very slender 

 peduncles, sometimes solitary, sometimes in pairs. As the SmiJaces are 

 supposed to be strictly dioecious, and the commercial forms are usualh 

 propagated vegetatively, it is difficult to account for this male in 

 Ceylon. — W. Botting Hemsley. 



Fig. 1, portion of branch petiole and tendrils; 2, a bud; 3, an expanded female 

 flower. All enlarged. 



