514 TRILLIACE.E HYDROCHARIDACEJE. 



Besides these species, -which supply in a greater or less degree the 

 officinal drug, there are others which furnish substitutes in different 

 countries, viz.: 



9. Smilax Purhampuy, a Peruvian species. 



10. Smilax excelsa and aspera, are used as substitutes in Europe. 



11. Smilax Zeylanica, glabra, perfoliata, and leucophylla, in Asia. 



12. Smilax China, a Chinese plant yielding China-root. 



13. Smilax Pseudo-China, from the United States. 



The officinal part is the roots which come off from the rhizomes. The 

 roots are mucilaginous, bitterish, and slightly acrid. They contain 

 mucilage, starch, oil, resin, and a crystalline principle called Pariglin 

 or SmUacin. Sarsaparilla is used in decoction and infusion, as a tonic 

 and alterative, in cachectic and syphilitic cases. 



1053. Order 183. Triiiiacete, the Trillium Family. (Mono-peri- 

 gyn.) Flowers usually bisexual. Perianth in 6, sometimes 8 divisions, 

 coloured or herbaceous. Stamens 6, 8, or 10; filaments subulate ; 

 anthers linear, with a prolonged connective. Ovary free, 3-4- or 

 5-celled; styles as many, distinct; ovules 00, anatropal. Fruit suc- 

 culent, 3- 4- or 5-celled. Seeds 00; embryo minute, in fleshy albu- 

 men. Natives of the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and America. 

 Some of them are more or less acrid, others are narcotic. The rhizome 

 of Trillium cernuum is used as an emetic. Paris quadrifolia, Herb 

 Paris, is narcotic. There are about 10 known genera, and upwards 

 of 60 species. Examples Trillium, Paris, Triuris? 



Subclass 2. PETALOIDE^:. 



1054. Flowers having usually a perianth consisting either of verticil- 

 late leaves, which may sometimes be separated into calyx and corolla. 

 and are often coloured (petaloid), or of a few whorled scales. Occa- 

 sionally the perianth is abortive. 



a. Perianth adherent, Ovary inferior, Flowers usually hermaphrodite. 



1055. Order 184. nydroctmridnccte, the Frog-bit Family. (Mono- 

 epigyn.) Flowers spathaceous, unisexual, rarely $ . Perianth with a 

 6-partite limb, the 3 outer segments herbaceous, and equivalent to the 

 calyx, the 3 inner petaloid, and equivalent to the corolla. Stamens 

 definite or indefinite, epigynous. Ovary adherent, 1 or many-celled; 

 ovules 00, anatropal, frequently attached to parietal placentas; stigmas 

 3-6. Fruit dry or succulent, indehiscent, uni- or multilocular. Seeds 

 numerous, exalbuminous; embryo straight, radicle remote from the 

 hilum. Floating or aquatic plants, with parallel-veined leaves, some- 

 times spiny. Chiefly found in Europe, Asia, and North America. 

 The plants of this order are not remarkable for their properties. 



