* 

 Smilacina. LILIACE^E. 



14. SMILACINA, Dcsf. FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL. 



Perianth persistent, of 6 distinct spreading white 1- (rarely 3-) nerved segments. 

 Stamens 6 ; filaments subulate, inserted at the base of the segments ; anthers rounded 

 or oblong, versatile, introrse. Ovary sessile, ovate, 3-celled : style short and thick, 

 3-lobed at the summit, persistent : ovules 2 in each cell, usually collateral. Fruit 

 a berry, globose, 1 - 3-seeded. Seeds subglobose, with thin testa and horny albu- 

 men. Stems simple, leafy, from running rootstocks, bearing a terminal raceme or 

 panicle of small flowers with minute bracts ; leaves alternate, mostly sessile, oblong 

 or lanceolate, many-nerved ; pedicels jointed at the summit. Tovaria, Necker ; 

 Baker, Journ. Linn. Soc. xiv. 304. 



A genus of 19 species, of eastern Asia and North America from the Arctic Ocean to Guatemala. 

 Seven species are exclusively Asiatic, and as many more belong to Mexico and Central America, 

 while two are common to the northern portions of both continents. Necker's name for the genus 

 is the older and has been adopted by Mr. Baker in his revision ; as, however, a genus Tovaria 

 had already been established in another order, it seems best, in order to avoid confusion, to retain 

 Desfontaine's familiar name. 



* Flowers panicled, very small : stamens exceeding the oblong-lanceolate perianth- 



segments. 



1. S. amplexicaulis, Nutt. Eootstock stout, elongated : stem 1 to 2| feet 

 high, covered with a short spreading pubescence or rarely glabrous : leaves ovate to 

 lanceolate, 3 to 7 inches long, strictly sessile and amplexicaul or sometimes with a 

 very short dilated clasping petiole, acute, rounded at base, usually with somewhat of 

 a very short spreading stiff pubescence : panicle sessile or shortly peduncled, oblong, 

 2 to 6 inches long ; pedicels solitary, very short (usually less than a line long) : 

 perianth less than a line long : filaments more or less broadly subulate, often broader 

 than the segments : style nearly as long as the ovary : berry light red finely dotted 

 with purple, 2 lines or more in diameter, usually 1 -seeded : seed whitish, 1 lines 

 broad. Journ. Philad. Acad. vii. 58. S. racemosa, var. amplexicaulis, Watson, 

 Bot. King Exp. 345. Tovaria racemosa, Baker, 1. c. 570, in part. 



In the Coast Eanges (Monterey County, Brcioer) and Sierra Nevada to the British boundary, 

 and in the mountains eastward to Utah and New Mexico. It differs from the eastern S. racemosa 

 most evidently in its usually sessile leaves more abruptly rounded at base and less distinctly or 

 not at all acuminate, in its much longer style, and considerably smaller seeds. In the Coast 

 Ranges it usually has a larger and broader panicle, the leaves not unfrequently somewhat petio- 

 late and occasionally shortly acuminate. Specimens collected near Oakland (Sanborn, Brewer) 

 have softer and longer pubescence, pedicels slender and 1 to 2 lines long, the stamens twice 

 longer than the perianth, and the ovary narrowed toward the base. 



* * Flowers larger, in a simple few-flowered raceme : stamens shorter than the 



segments. 



2. S. sessilifolia, Nutt. Rootstock slender : stem a foot or two high, usually 

 flexuous above : leaves lanceolate, 2 to 6 inches long, acute or acuminate, sessile and 

 clasping, usually flat and spreading, more or less puberulent : raceme open, sessile or 

 shortly peduncled, the spreading solitary pedicels 2 to 7 lines long : perianth-segments 

 1| to 4 lines long, lanceolate, rarely 3-nerved : stamens half as long : style nearly 

 equalling the ovary : berry nearly black, globose, 3 to 5 lines in diameter, 13- 

 seeded : seeds brown, subovoid, 1| lines long. Tovaria sessilifolia, Baker, 1. c. 

 5G6. S. stellata, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 345, mainly. 



Frequent in the mountains on stream-banks and in damp places, from Monterey County to 

 British Columbia and eastward to the Wahsatch. It has been usually confounded with the fol- 

 lowing species, which it sometimes closely approaches. 



3. S. Stellata, Desf. Near the last : leaves usually ascending and folded, 

 closely clasping the stem : pedicels of the shorter and more crowded raceme only a 



