368 D10SC0RIDE.E. [Dioscorea. 



2. D. Batatas, Dene, in Rev. Ilortic. 1854, 243, and 1855, 69, with a fig. 

 A glabrous twiner like the last, with a similar inflorescence and flowers. 

 Leaves mostly opposite, ovate-triangular or broadly cordate, with rounded 

 basal lobes, shortly pointed but not really acuminate, 2 to 3 in. long, and 

 almost as broad. Fruits of D. oppositifolia, but usually much larger, the 

 wing-like lobes measuring 9 lines in breadth, and the axis 10 lines in'length. 



A native of China, introduced to Europe as the Chinese Yam. Two Hongkong speci- 

 mens, both in fruit, appear to me to belong to this species ; one from Hance, confounded 

 by Seemann with the following, D. sativa, under the name of D. aculeata, the other from 

 Wright, sent with the D. oppositifolia. It is very closely allied to D. glabra, Roxb., a 

 common Silhet plant, which is said to have small subfusiform tubers, and may be a wild state 

 of D. Batatas. D. aculeata, "Wight, Ic. t. 2060, but not of Linn., appears to be the same 

 as D. glabra. 



3. D. sativa, Linn. Spec. 1463 \ Hart. Cliff, tf. 28, but not of Knnth, 

 Enum. Stems glabrous, often bearing green globular bulbs in the axils of 

 the leaves. Leaves alternate, ovate-cordate, 7- to 11 -nerved, more or less 

 acuminate, very variable in size. Male spikes slender, 1 to 2 in. long when 

 fully out, usually numerous in long narrow axillary panicles. Flowers very 

 small. Perianth-segments narrow, almost valvate in each series ; the inner 

 ones linear. Stamens 6 ; the anthers almost sessile round a rudimentary 

 style. Female flowers in slender simple spikes. Capsule oblong, full f in. 

 long ; the lobes scarcely 3 lines broad. Seeds winged at the lower end only. 

 — D. bulbifera, Wight, Ic. t. 878, but not of Linn. Helmia bulbifera, Kunth, 

 Enum. v. 435. 



Hongkong, Hance, and perhaps Wright. The former specimen male, the latter in leaf 

 only. In various parts of India. The Linnasan names of D. sativa and B. bulbifera appear 

 to have been transposed by nearly all modern botanists, although all the figures quoted by 

 Linnaeus show that in dividing the species he had originally formed upon both, he placed the 

 Helmia under B. sativa, and the broad-fruited one under D. bulbifera. The figure in the 

 ' Hoilus Cliffortianus,' which must be taken as the original of B. sativa, is a very good repre- 

 sentation of our plant. That in the Hort. Malab. viii. t. 51, is probably a different species, 

 nearer to B. deltoidea, Wall. 



Order CXVI. LILIACE^. 



Flowers usually regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Perianth inferior, 

 petal-like, with 6 divisions or teeth. Stamens 6, inserted at the base of the 

 segments or in the tube (or very rarely 3 of the stamens or of the perianth- 

 segments are wanting). Ovary free, 3-celled (very rarely incompletely so), with 

 several ovules or one only in each cell. Style single, with an entire or 3-lobed 

 stigma, or rarely 3 sessile stigmas. Fruit a berry or capsule. Embryo im- 

 mersed in a fleshy albumen. — Perennial herbs, with a creeping bulbous or 

 clustered root-stock, and either radical leaves and peduncles, or annual, biennial, 

 or rarely perennial leafy stems. 



A large Order, distributed over nearly every part of the globe. 



Flowers dioecious (small). Stems branched. Fruit a berry. 



Leaves flat, with digitate nerves and reticulate veins. Stems climbing. 



Flowers in umbels ]. Smilax. 



Leaves subulate or vertical, usually clustered in the axil of a scale. 



Mowers clustered or racemose 2. Asparagus. 



