DIOSCOREACE.E, SMILACE.E. 157 



HYPOX'YS, L. STAH-GBASS. 



H. erecta, L. A small herb sending up a slender scape from 

 a solid bulb. Leaves linear, grass-like, longer than the umbel- 

 lately 1-4-flowered scape. Perianth hairy and greenish outside, 

 yellowish within, 6-parted nearly down to the ovary. Stamens 

 6, sagittate. Pod indehiscent, crowned with the withered peri- 

 anth. Meadows and open woods. 



ORDER XCIX. DIOSCOBEA'CEJE. (AM FAMILY. ) 



Represented with us by the genus 



DIOSCORE'A, Plumier. YAM. 



D. villo'sa, L. (WiLD YAM-ROOT.) A slender twiner with 

 knotted rootstocks, and net- veined, heart-shaped, 9-11 -ribbed, 

 petioled leaves. Flowers dioecious, small, in axillary racemes. 

 Stamens 6. Pod with three large wings. Reported only from 

 the warm and sheltered valley lying between Hamilton and 

 Dundas, Ont., and the banks of the Thames at London, Ont. 



ORDER C. SMILA'CE.*!. (SMLLAX FAMILY.) 



Climbing plants, more or less shrubby, with alternate ribbed 

 and net-veined petioled leaves, and small dioecious flowers in 

 umbels. Perianth regular, of 6 greenish sepals, free from the 

 ovary. Stamens as many as the sepals, with 1 -celled anthers. 

 Ovary 3-celled, surmounted by 3 sessile spreading stigmas. Fruit 

 a small berry. Represented by the single genus 



SMIIiAX, Tourn. GBEEN-BKIEB. CAT-BBIEB. 

 (Included in Liliacece, in Macoun's Catalogue.) 



1. S. his'pida, Muhl. Stem woody, densely covered beloio with 

 long iveak prickles. Leaves large, ovate or heart-shaped, pointed, 

 thin, 5-9-nerved. Peduncles of the axillary umbels much longer 

 than the petioles. Berry black. Moist thickets. 



2. S. rotundifo'lia, L., var. quadrangularis, Gray. (S. 



quadrangularis, Pursh, in Macoun's Catalogue.) Stem woody, it 

 and the branches armed with scattered pricldes. Branches 4- 

 angular. Peduncles not longer than the petioles. Leaves ovate, 

 broader than long, slightly cordate. Berry blue-black. South- 

 western Ontario. 



