CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 485 



VII. ORDER LILIALES OR LILIIFLORvE. 



The plants of this order are mostly perennial herbs with rhi- 

 zomes, tubers, bulbs, or fibrous roots. The leaves are parallel- 

 veined. 



a. LILIACE^E OR LILY FAMILY. The plants are the 

 most typical of the Monocotyledons. They are scape-like herbs 

 with bulbs ; the flowers are symmetrical, and the perianth is parted 

 into 6 more or less distinct segments (Fig. 123) ; the anthers are 

 introrse. The ovary is free, 3-locular, with a single style, and the 

 fruit is a 3-locular, loculicidally dehiscent capsule. 



The Liliaceae is one of the most important families, containing 

 about 2500 species, many of which are of great economic interest. 

 Quite a number are cultivated on account of the beauty and fra- 

 grance of their flowers. Among the latter are the hyacinth, lily, 

 lily-of-the-valley, tuberose, tulip, and yucca. Of those yielding 

 food products we have asparagus, being the young shoots of 

 Asparagus officinalis. The edible bulbs include the onion (Allium 

 Cepa], garlic (Allium sativum), the leek or scullion (Allium 

 Porrum), and chives (Allium Schcenoprasum). A number of 

 the Liliacese are among the common wild flowers, as swamp pink 

 (Fig. 272), bellwort (Uvularia), lily (Lilium), dog's-tooth violet 

 (Erythronium), Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum), False Solo- 

 mon's Seal (Fig. 267), True Solomon's Seal (Fig. 266), Indian 

 Cucumber- root (Medeola), colic-root (Fig. 271), cat brier 

 (Smilax), etc. The following plants are of medicinal interest : 



Veratrum viride is a plant 2 to 8 feet high, which is charac- 

 terized by the broad, clasping, strongly plicate leaves, and by hav- 

 ing the flowers in large terminal panicles (Fig. 268). The plant 

 is found in swamps and wet woods in the United States in spring 

 and early summer. The rhizome is upright, and it with the roots 

 is used in medicine. The plant, including the rhizome, closely 

 resembles the Veratrum album of Europe. 



Colchicum autumnale. This is the autumnal-flowering colchi- 

 cum, a perennial herb but a few inches high which arises from a 

 corm and bears proportionately large lilac-colored flowers. The 

 fruit consists of 3 follicles containing numerous seeds. The corm 

 and seeds of this and other species of Colchicum are used in 



