SmilaxJ] 



CXL. LILIACEiE (bAKER). 



IVhyte! Nyika Plateau, 6000-7000 ft., Whyte ! 

 Buchanan, 95 ! 

 Also in Natal. 



425 



and without jjrccise locality. 



2. ASPARAGUS, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 765. 



Flowers hermaphrodite in the Tropical African species. Perianth 

 campanulate, cut down to the base into 6 subequal biseriate segments. 

 Stamens (>, hypogynous or attached to the base of the segments ; 

 filaments short, filiform or sHghtly flattened ; anthers oblong, dorsifixed, 

 dehiscing introrsely. Ovary ovoid, 3-celled ; ovules 2-8 in a cell ; style 

 short; stigmas 3, recurved. Fruit a globose berry. Seeds often reduced 

 to 1 ; embryo cylindrical ; albumen horny. — Stem herbaceous or woody, 

 often climbing. Leaves minute, bract-like, often spinose. Cladodia 

 usually fascicled, subterete or flat. Flowers usually axillary, rarely 

 racemose. 



Specie"^ 100, s{)read throughout the Tropical and Temperate regions of the Old 

 World. 



Cladodia subulate. Spur not pungent. Flowers 1-2-nate. 

 Cladodia |— | in. long. 



Cladodia 1-3-nate 1. 



Cladodia 2-6-nate 

 Cladodia densely fascicled 

 Cladodia ^— | in. long. 



Stem erect .... 

 Stem decumbent, subscandent 

 Cladodia subulate. Spur not pungent. Flowers umbellate. 

 Cladodia obsolete 

 Cladodia \-\ in. long 

 Cladodia \ in. long . 

 Cladodia 1 in. long . 

 Cladodia subulate. Spur pungent. Flowers 1-2-nate. 

 Cladodia obsolete or solitary. 



Branchlets very long ..... 

 Branchlets not very long .... 

 Cladodia few in a cluster. 

 Cladodia very short. 



Spine uncinate ..... 



Spine straight, conical .... 

 Spine straight, subulate .... 

 Cladodia 9-15 lin. long .... 



Cladodia many in a cluster. 

 Cladodia very short. 

 Cladodia very slender. 

 Branches not flexuose. 



Spines straight ..... 

 Spines uncinate .... 



Branches flexuose ..... 

 Cladodia moderately stout. 



Branches glabrous .... 



Branches pubescent ..... 

 Cladodia \-\ in. long. 



Branchlets glabrous ...-•• 



A. vii'(jatus. 

 A. exuvialis. 

 A. petersianus. 



A. psilurus. 



A. benguellensis. 



12. 

 13. 



14. 



15. 



16. 

 17. 

 18. 



19. 



20. 



A. shirensis. 

 A. pilosus. 

 A. conglomeratus. 

 A. hereroensis. 



A. equisetoides. 

 A. nudicauli.i. 



A. Pauli-Gidielmi. 

 A. bechuanicus. 

 A. Judtii. 

 A. Schweinfurthii. 



A. naiKaensis. 

 A. fia gel Jar is. 

 A. plumosus. 



A. zanzibaricus. 

 A. pubescenx. 



11. A. dejlextis. 



