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BOTANY 



PART II 



All these plants have creeping rhizomes bearing scale-leaves ; either the apex of 

 this rhizome grows annually into the erect shoot bearing the foliage leaves and 

 inflorescences, while the growth of the rhizome is continued by a lateral branch 

 (Polygonatum), or the rhizome continues its subterranean growth, the leafy shoots 

 being developed from axillary buds (Paris}. 



POISONOUS. Numerous Liliaceae are more or less poisonous, e.g. Lily of the 

 Valley, Tulip, Fritillaria, Colchicum, Veratrum, Paris. 



OFFICIAL. Colchicum autumnale, seeds and corm. Aloe vera, A. chinensis. 

 A. perryi, and other species yield ALOES BARBADENSIS and ALOES SOCOTRINA. 

 Urginea scilla yields SQUILL. Urginea indica. 



FIG. 802. Dracaena draco. The Dragon Tree of Laguna in the Canary Islands. 

 (After CHUN.) 



Family 3. Amaryllidaceae. Distinguished from Liliaceae by the inferior 

 ovary. Mostly tropical and sub-tropical. Leucojum (Fig. 804), the Snowdrop 

 (Galanthus], and Narcissus resemble the bulbous Liliaceae in habit. The majority 

 of the genera belong to the tropics or sub-tropics, e.g. Haemanthus, Olivia, Crinum, 

 species of which are often grown in greenhouses. Agave, large plants with suc- 

 culent leaves from the warmer regions of America, provide fibres. Agave Sisalana 

 from Yucatan, one of the most important fibre-yielding plants, is extensively 

 cultivated in East Africa and other colonies with dry and warm climates. A. 

 salmiana provides the national drink of Mexico (pulque), obtained by fermenting 

 the sap that flows on cutting off the inflorescence. Species of Agave are acclimatised 

 in the Mediterranean region. 



Family 4. Iridaeeae. Distinguished from Liliaceae by their 

 inferior ovary and by the suppression of the inner whorl of the 



