BLACK OR DARK PURPLE 163 



umbrellas for them. When the plant is fruiting 

 the stems become erect, and, in the fall, when the 

 berries are ripe, the crowning leaflets and fruit 

 stems, tinged with dull reds, serve as signals to 

 the birds that harvest time has come. 



The horizontal tuberous rootstock is a charac- 

 teristic feature. It is white, and similar in taste 

 to a cucumber. 



u Its white tuberous root is crisp and tender, 

 and leaves in the mouth distinctly the taste of 

 cucumber. Whether or not the Indians used it 

 as a relish I do not know." BURROUGHS. 



CARRION FLOWER 

 Smilax herbacea Smilax Family 



Fruit. The flattened globose berries grow in 

 more or less full rounded clusters. They are 

 borne on long peduncles, sometimes six or even 

 eight inches long. These stems grow from the 

 axils of single leaves or from the axils of leafy 

 branches, which themselves spring from the leaf 

 axils. The berries are black with a bloom w^hich 

 is often decidedly blue. The flesh is thin, and 

 the berry variable in the number of its seeds, 



