186 LILIACE^E. Xerophyllum. 



X. DOUGLASII, Watson, found in the mountains from the Columbia to Montana, is a similar 

 species with a narrower raceme of smaller flowers ; stamens included ; styles a line long ; capsule 

 cordate-ovate, 2 lines long, the very abruptly acute cells usually separating and then dehiscing 

 loculicidally ; seeds shorter and broader. 



ORDER CIX. SMILACE^J. 



Shrubby (or rarely herbaceous) plants, climbing by petiolar tendrils, often prickly, 

 the leaves net-veined between the nerves, with small dioscious greenish usually 6- 

 parted flowers ; perianth regular, deciduous ; stamens at the base of the segments, 

 with introrse basifixed 1-celled anthers ; ovary superior, 3-celled (rarely 1- or several- 

 celled), with as many sessile linear spreading stigmas, and 1 or 2 suspended ortho- 

 tropous ovules in each cell ; fruit a berry ; seeds with minute embryo, the testa 

 closely adherent to the horny albumen. Rootstocks often elongated or tuberous ; 

 leaves alternate, petiolate, the petiole usually bearing a pair of opposite tendrils 

 above the dilated clasping base ; flowers in axillary pedunculate umbels or racemes. 

 Represented almost solely by the following genus. 



1. SMILAX, Tourn. GREEN BRIER. 

 Characters as of the order. Flowers in umbels. Anthers bilocellate. 



A widely distributed genus of 150 species or more, chiefly of the tropical and temperate regions 

 of Asia and America. A dozen species are found in the Atlantic States. The single representa- 

 tive of the genus in California belongs to the section Eusmilax, having solitary ovules, and the 

 perianth-segments of the male flowers recurved. The roots of many species are employed in medi- 

 cine under the name of Sarsaparilla. 



1. S. Californica, Gray in herb. Glabrous; stem woody, terete or somewhat 

 angled, naked or covered with weak spreading prickles (becoming black) : leaves 

 broadly ovate, abruptly acute, somewhat cordate at base, 1| to 4 inches long, thin 

 and deciduous, roughish on the margin : peduncles slender, flat, 2 or 3 times longer 

 than the petioles, which are about an inch long : flowers few to many (20 or less) ; 

 segments (4 to 6) green, narrowly oblong, 2 lines long : fruit black, 3 lines in diame- 

 ter. S. rotundifolia (1), Benth. PI. Hartw. 341. S. rotundifolia, var. Californica, 

 A. DC. Monog. Phaner. i. 75. 



On the Upper Sacramento, near Chico (Hartwcg, and others) ; on McCloud's Eiver, in fruit, 

 Lemtn&n. Near S. hispida of the Atlantic States, but leaves less acuminate and more cordate. 



ORDER CX. PONTEDERIACE^. 



Perennial aquatic herbs, with spathaceous perfect flowers, an irregular funnelform 

 or nearly regular and salverform 6-cleft persistent perianth, 6 or 3 perigynous more 

 or less unequal or dissimilar stamens with introrse anthers attached near the base, 

 a superior sessile 1 - 3-celled 1 - many-ovuled ovary, and a simple style; fruit a 

 mauy-seeded 3-celled (or 1-celled with 3 parietal placentae) membranous 3-valved 

 capsule, or a (by abortion) 1-celled 1 -seeded utricle; seed anatropous, with fari- 

 naceous albumen, and straight axile embryo. Stems from creeping rootstocks, with 

 alternate sheathing or clasping leaves, and spicate or axillary and sessile solitary 

 flowers. 



An order of 7 genera and 20 or more species, mostly of the tropical and temperate regions of 

 America, rare in tropical Africa and Asia. In the Atlantic States there are a single species of Pon- 

 fedcrin (the principal genus), and two of Hcierantlwra, besides the following. 



