LXXXt. LtLtACE^. 459 



V. ASPARAGUS. ASPARAGUS. 



Herbs, with a creeping, matted rootstock, and annual branching 

 stems, with clusters of fine, short, subulate leaves (theoretically shown 

 to be deformed branches called cladodes), in the axils of short scarious 

 scales (the true leaves). Flowers small, axillary. Perianth of 6 distinct 

 segments. Stamens 6. Ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell. 

 Styles single, with a 3-lobed stigma. Fruit a berry. 



A considerable genus, chiefiy African, with a few south European or 

 Asiatic species, all readily known by the foliage. 



1. A. offiemalis, Linn. (fig. 1035). Common A. Stems erect and 

 much branched, usually 1 to 2 feet high in the wild state, attaining 

 4 to 5 feet when cultivated, and elegantly feathered by the numerous 

 clusters of fine subulate cladodes, about half an inch long. Flowers 

 small, of a greenish white, hanging on slender pedicels, 2 or 3 together 

 in the axils of the principal branches, many of them with stamens 

 only. * Berries small, red, and globular. 



In maritime sands, or in sandy plains, in central and western Asia, 

 all round the Mediterannean, and up the western coasts of Europe to 

 the English Channel. In Britain, confined to the western and south 

 western shores of England, and to the coast of Wexford and Waterford 

 in Ireland. Fl. summer. 



VI. EUSCUS. RUSCUS. 



Shrub-like herbs, with a perennial rootstock, hard, green, branching 

 stems, and alternate, stiff, evergreen, parallel-veined leaves (theoreti- 

 cally shown to be short leaf-like branches, cladodes), in the axils of 

 minute, often microscopical scales (the real leaves). Flowers small, 

 mostly unisexual, apparently sessile on the middle of the leaf. Perianth 

 of 6 distinct segments. Stamens united in a tube, with 3 or 6 anthers. 

 Ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell Style simple, with an 

 undivided stigma. Fruit a berry. 



A small European and North African genus, easily known among 

 European Monocotyledons by its stiff, shrub -like habit. 



1. B. aculeatus, Linn. (fig. 1036). Butcher's Broom. A rigid, dark 

 green, much branched plant, 2 to 3 feet high ; the stems said to be 

 biennial, although apparently shrubby. Cladodes numerous, ovate, all 

 terminating in a prickly point. Flowers small and white, apparently 

 sessile in the middle of what is really the upper surface of the cladode, 

 though it is usually turned downwards by a twist of the cladode at its 

 base ; and a close examination will show that the flower is in fact 

 borne on a pedicel arising from the axil of the cladode and closely 

 adnate to its surface, with a minute bract under the flower. Berries 

 red. 



In woods and bushy places, in west central and southern Europe, 

 extending eastward to the Caucasus and northward to Belgium, but 

 not into Germany. Abundant in some of the southern counties of 

 England, but not truly wild in northern England, Scotland, or Ireland. 

 fl, spring. 



