72 DRACAENACEAE. 



3. Smilax laurifolia L. Sp. PI. 1030. 1753. 



Rootstocks bearing tubers sometimes 1.5 dm. thick; stem high- climbing, 

 terete,- armed with strong straight prickles, the branches angled, mostly un- 

 armed. Petioles stout, 6-16 mm. long; leaves leathery, evergreen, elliptic or 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute or abruptly cuspidate at the apex, narrowed at the 

 base, entire, 3-nerved, or sometimes with an additional pair of nerves near the 

 margins, 5-11 cm. long; peduncles stout, angled, 4-20 mm. long; umbels 6-30- 

 flowered; pedicels 4-6 mm. long; staminate flowers 46 mm. long; anthers 

 usually about one-third shorter than the filaments; stigma 1, sometimes 2; 

 berries black, ovoid, 4-6 mm. thick. 



Border of swamp, Delaport, New Providence ; coppices at Staniard Creek, 

 Andros : Southeastern United States ; Cuba. LAUREL-LEAVED GREENBRIER. Catesby 

 1 : pi. 15. 



Smilax Walteri Pursh, attributed to the Bahamas by O. E. Schulz, from a 

 specimen supposed to have been collected by Maerter, preserved in the Munich 

 herbarium, has not been found on any of the islands in the course of our 

 explorations; we presume the specimen was collected in the United States. 



Family 3. DRACAENACEAE Link. 

 DRACAENA FAMILY. 



Perennial, often large, woody plants, mostly with erect and leafy stems, 

 the leaves alternate, the flowers in terminal panicles or racemes. Sepals 

 and petals each 3, nearly alike. 'Stamens 6; filaments distinct; anthers 

 2-celled. Ovary superior, 1-3-celled ; ovules 2 to numerous in each cavity ; 

 styles united. Fruit capsular or baccate, dry or fleshy, loculicidally dehis- 

 cent or rarely indehiscent. About 10 genera and 100 species, natives of 

 warm and tropical regions. 



1. YUCCA L. Sp. PI. 319. 1753. 



Large plants, with a short sometimes subterranean caudex, or tall woody 

 and leafy stem, or bracted scape, the leaves linear or lanceolate, usually rigid 

 and sharp-pointed, bearing long marginal thread-like fibres in our species. 

 Flowers large, nodding in a terminal raceme or panicle. Perianth campanulate, 

 or nearly globular, white in our species, of 6 ovate, or ovate-lanceolate connivent 

 segments. Stamens hypogynous, shorter than the perianth ; filaments thickened 

 above; anthers small, versatile. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, or imperfectly 6-celled; 

 ovules numerous; style columnar, short, with 3 stigmatic lobes. Fruit a cap- 

 sule, or fleshy, or spongy and indehiscent. Seeds numerous, flattened, hori- 

 zontal. [The Haitien name.] About 30 species, natives of North and Central 

 America. Type species: Yucca aloifolia L. 



1. Yucca aloifolia L. Sp. PI. 319. 1753. 



Caudex stout, up to 3.3 m. high, often branched; plant usually growing in 

 colonies, forming large masses. Leaves 1 m. long or less, stiff, sharp-pointed, 

 the upper spreading, the older lower ones deflexed, the base expanded; panicle 

 ample, often 6 dm. long, showy; perianth white or purplish-tinged, about 5 cm. 

 long, its segments oblong; capsule pulpy, indehiscent, oblong, 6-8 cm. long; 

 seeds thin. 



Sand dunes, New Providence : Bermuda ; Florida to Louisiana ; Cuba ; Jamaica 

 Mexico. SPANISH BAYONET. 



