152 FAMILIAR WILD ILOWERS. 



is only applied to the other species, the ~Bryonia dioca, 

 it becomes, by usage only, a means of distinguishing 

 the plant intended. The great difference in the forms of 

 the leaves is the most marked characteristic, and when 

 that point is once remembered, the veriest novice cannot 

 possibly err. 



In spite of its specific title, commnnis, it is much 

 commoner in some English localities than in others; but 

 in both Scotland and Ireland it is a plant altogether 

 unknown. It is not only the solitary English species in 

 the genus, but the genus to which it belongs is the sole 

 English genus in the botanical order; it is therefore the 

 only representative we have of the Dioscoreacece, an order 

 containing many species, but chiefly tropical in habitat. 

 The yam is perhaps the best known of these. 



