BBYONY LILY. 285 



of its being wild. It is indigenous in Surrey. The roots both 

 of the Snowdrop and Lent Lily are poisonous. 



The YAM order succeeds that of the Snowflake, and of this 

 we have but one British representative. A foreign member of 

 the order, from which indeed it takes its name, is the Yam, the 

 root of which is edible, and resembles in flavour a sweet 

 Potato. It forms a very important article of food both in the 

 East and West Indies. 



Our British member is the Black Bryony (Tamus communis), 

 a climbing plant, with heart-shaped, shining green leaves, and 

 long clusters of pale green flowers. The blooms on the barren 

 plant have six stamens. The fruitful plant is a beautiful object 

 in autumn, with its large clusters of scarlet berries and twining 

 stems wreathing the shrubs in the grove or hedgerow. It 

 abounds in the neighbourhood of Hawkhurst, and is equally 

 common in Yorkshire. 



The Herb Paris, or True Love (Paris quadrifolia), flourishes 

 in the Eichmond and Swaledale woods. The four leaves placed 

 in a whorl make a fanciful representation of a true-love knot : 

 hence the name True Love. The plant has no leaves, except 

 those in the whorl upon the stem, and these are generally four 

 in number, but they vary to five, or even six, occasionally. The 

 flower is green, with four long green petals, and eight stamens. 

 The fruit is a large black berry, and is very unwholesome, not 

 to say poisonous. This is the only British plant of the tribe. 



The LILY order comes next, and numbers some of the most 

 beautiful plants in the world among its members. Our British 

 representatives are the least showy of the tribe, though many 

 of them do not lack beauty. There . are useful members also, 

 British as well as foreign. The Aloe belongs to this tribe ; it 

 was used by the ancients both for embalming their dead and 

 decorating their funerals. Kicodemus brought "a mixture of 

 myrrh and aloes" to embalm the body of our Lord; and 

 Solomon ranks the Aloe among spices : " spikenard and saffron, 

 calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense ; myrrh 



