CLASS VI. ORDER I.] ASPARAGUS. 475 



drooping, axillary, varying in number Irom one to four, on a slender 

 smooth peduncle. Perianth white, long, tubular, cylindrical, slightly 

 contracted about the middle, six ribbed, each rib terminating in a 

 green lanceolate segment, tipped with a tuft of short white hairs. 

 Stamens on slender short downy filaments, inserted above the middle 

 of the tube, bearing elliptical two celled anthers, cleft at the base, and 

 bursting laterally. Style slender, filiform, as long as the stamens, 

 smooth, wavy. Stigmas obtuse. Fruit a globular dark blue berry, 

 of three cells, each cell one or two seeded. 



Habitat. Woods and shady places in various parts of England and 

 Scotland, especially in the Southern Counties, though no where very 

 common. 



Perennial; flowering in May and June. 



The fleshy roots of the Convallarias abound in starchy matter in 

 combination with a bitter acrid principle, from which it is readily 

 separated by grating or bruising the roots in water, and washing the 

 pulp, which carries away the acrid juices, and leaves the starch, in 

 which state it is probable it was made into bread, as related by Linnaeus 

 in his Flora Suecica, and used by the inhabitants in the North of 

 Europe. The fresh bruised root is an application frequently made 

 use of to remove the marks of bruises on the face, &c., which it ap- 

 pears to do by stimulating the action of the capillary vessels of the 

 skin, and thus removing from the contused parts the cause of dis- 

 colouration. 



GENUS X. ASPA'RAGUS. LINN. Asparagus. 

 Nat. Ord. AapHo'DELE-s:. R. BROWN. 



GEN. CHAR. Perianth of six equal deciduous pieces, the stamens in- 

 serted into the base. Filaments subulate, smooth. Anthers 

 peltate, erect. Fruit a round berry, of from one to three cells, 

 with few seeds in each. Embryo out of the centre. " Name 

 ewrapayof, Att. ao-^apayo?, from <rrta.$auTcrv , to tear; and that 

 according to This, from spen, a spine in Celtic, which is the 

 root of many words in Latin, French, German, and English. 

 Many species of this genus are armed with spines." Hooker. 

 1. A. officina'lis, Linn. (Fig. 540.) Common Asparagus. Stem 



erect, rounded, much branched, herbaceous, without prickles ; leaves 



bristle shaped, fasciculated, flexible; peduncles jointed near the 



middle. 

 English Botany, t. 339. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 153. Hooker, 



British Flora, vol. i. p. 162. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 267. 

 Root with creeping underground stems, and numerous long fleshy 



fibres. Stem erect, mostly several from one root, about a foot high, 



