CHAP. CXV. 



S'MILA CEJE. 



2509 



1. C. sricoi'des. The Erica-like Ceratiola. 



Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p 222 

 Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. t. IS. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Flowers in the axils 

 of the upper leaves, solitar}-, except 

 a small abortive one by the side of 

 the principal flower, 



Descripfio7i, t^c An upright much 

 branched shrub, greatly resembling a 

 heath, and varying from 2 ft. to 8 ft. 

 high. Branches subverticillate, erect, 

 and marked with the remains of the 

 petioles of the flilien leaves. The 

 upper and younger branches retain 

 their leaves, which are slightly tomen- 

 tose. Leaves in whorls of 4, spreading, 

 long, linear, rigid, acerose. Flowers 

 very small. A native of South Carolina, 

 on the Edisto River, where it covers a 

 space 300 or 400 yards in width, and 

 two or three miles long, which appears 

 to have been a sand-bank formed by 

 some of the ancient freshets of the 

 river, and on which only a few stunted 



Bot. Mag., t. 2758 ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 712. 



2379 



2380 



oaks (Q. Catesbas^i and Q. nigra) are found intermingled with it. Ac- 

 cording to Pursh, it is also found in the gravelly dry soil of Georgia and 

 Florida; and, in great plenty, on the islands at the mouth of St. Mary's River. 

 It was introduced in 1826. 



CHAP. CXV. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS BELONGING TO THE ORDER 

 SMILA'CEjE. 



J 1_ 



Identification. Lindl. Nat. Sy.st. Bot., p. 3,"»9. 



Synvni/mes. Liliacea?, in part, Juss. Gen.., 48. ; Sarment-icese, in part, Nees Vnn Esenbeck Gen. PI. ; 



Sm\\\ce£, in part, R. Brown Prod , p. 292,. Lindl. Synaps., p. 270 , Bart. Oni. Nat., p. 52. 

 Derivation. From Smitax, a beautiful youth, fabled to have been changed into this plant (see Ovid 



Met.) ; or, according to others, from stnitS, a scraper, from the roughness of the stems of most of 



the species. 



General Characteristics, Sfc. Monocotyledonous. Flowers hermaphrodite or 

 dioecious. Calyx and corolla confounded, inferior, 6-parted. Stamens 6, 

 inserted into the perianth near the base ; seldom hypogynous. Ovary 3- 

 celled; the cells 1- or many-seeded. Style trifid. Stigmas 3. Fruit a 

 roundish berry. Albumen between fleshy and cartilaginous. Embryo 

 usually distant from the hilum. {Lindl. in Nat. Syst.of Bot.) Small climbing 

 shrubs, with woody stems, and reticulated leaves, though they are con- 

 sidered as monocotyledonous plants. This order is nearly allied to L\\\- 

 aceae, of which it was formerly considered to form a part. The plants 

 composing it are found in small quantities in most parts of the world ; but 

 the only ligneous plants which it contains belong to the genus i^milax. 



