LILIACK.i:. (I.II.V KAMII.V.) 517 



quite down to the inicrojnle, the persistent seed-stalk thus forniing a sort of 

 lateral l»oak. Radicle inferior! — Stemless small herhs, with grassy and hairy 

 linear leaves and slender few-Howered scapes, from a solid Imlh. (An old 

 name for a plant having sourish leaves, frtnn viru^vi, siih-iuid.) 



1. H. erecta, L. Leaves linear, grass-like, longer than the unibellately 

 1 -4-flowered scape; divisions of the perianth hairy and greenish outside, yel- 

 low within. — Meadows and open woods, N. Eug. to Fla., west to Minn., E. Kan., 

 and Tex. 



Ohdkr 115. DIOSCOKEACE^:. (Yam Family.) 



Plfnifs v:lth f wining stems from larcje tuberous roofs or knotted rootstocks, 

 and ribbed and netted-veined petioled leaves, small diarlous G-androus and 

 ref/nlarjloicers, wit It the 6-cle/t calt/x-H/ce perianth adherent in the fertile 

 plant to the 3-celled oranj. Styles 3, distinct. — Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, 

 anatropons. Fruit usually a membranaceous 3-aiigled or winged capsule. 

 Seeds with a minute embryo in hard albumen. 



1. DIOSCOREA, Plumier. Yam. 



Flowers very small, in axillary panicles or racemes. Stamens 6, at the hase 

 of the divisions of the 6-parted perianth. Capsule 3-celled, 3-winged, loculi- 

 cidally 3-valved by splitting through the winged angles. Seeds 1 or 2 in each 

 cell, flat, with a membranaceous wing. (Dedicated to the Greek naturalist, 

 Dioscorides.) 



1. D. villosa, L. (\YiLi> Yam-root.) Herbaceous. Stems slender, from 

 knotty and nuitted rootstocks, twining over bushes; leaves mostly alternate, 

 sometimes nearly opposite or in fours, more or less downy beneath, heart- 

 shaped, conspicuously pointed, 9-11-ribbed ; flowers pale greenish-yellow, the 

 sterile in drooping panicles, the fertile in drooping sini|»le racemes; capsules 

 8-10" long- — Thickets, S. New Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., Kan., aud Tex. 



Order 116. LILlACEiE. (Lily Family.) 



Herbs, or rarehj tcoodij plants, with regular and syuunetrical almost always 

 G-androus flowers ; the perianth not glumaceous, free from the chief >/ 3- 

 celled ovary ; the stamens one before each of its divisions or lobes (i. e. 6, in 

 one instance 4), ?r//A 2-celled anthers ; fruit a few -many-seeded pod or 

 berry : the small embryo enclosed tn copious albumen. Seeds anatrojious 

 or amphitropous (orthotropous in Smilax). Flowers not from a spathe, 

 except in Alliimi; the outer and inner ranks of the perianth colored 

 alike (or nearly so) and generally similar, except in Trillium. 



SriiORDKR L SinilacCee. Shrubby or rarely herbaceous, the petiole 

 of the 3 - 9-nerved netted-veined leaves often tendril-bearing. Flowers (in 

 ours) dicecious, in axillary umbels, snuUl, with regular G-parted deciduous 

 perianth. Anthers a|)j)arently l-<'elled. Stiirnias 3, sessile. Fruit a 

 3-celled berry, with 1 - 2 pendulous orthotropous seeds in each celL 

 Embryo minute in horny albumen. 

 1. SiuUax. Cliaracters as abo\i'. 



