LILIACE^E 



THE LEAVES: mostly basal; in a tuft-like whorl; light 

 yellow-green turning pinkish-yellow; lanceolate; two 

 inches to six inches long; hairless on both surfaces; 

 acuminate at the apex; narrowed at the base; entire; 

 parallel- veined; awl-shaped bracts, sometimes two to 

 each flower. 



THE FLOWERS: mealy, inconspicuous, on extremely short 

 stems; in a long raceme, which is four inches to ten 

 inches long; corolla tubular, six cleft at the top; six 

 stamens. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



A tall, pale, mealy-white spike rising from a whorl of 

 basal leaves, and standing stiff and erect here one, 

 and there close by, another so that all told quite a, 

 colony of them is found growing on the sandy soil of 

 the Commons. This is the Colic-root or Star Grass; 

 its common names indicating its appearance as well as 

 its medicinal properties, for it is a bitter and strong 

 stomach tonic. 



LILIACE^E LILY FAMILY 



Smilax rotundifolia, L. 



Light green Green-brier, Nigger-head, 



Blue-black berries H arse-brier, Bamboo-brier, 



Cat-brier, Devil's Hop-vine, 



Wait-a-bit Hungry Nine 



May- June Biscuit-leaves, Bread-and-Butter . 



Smilax: a Greek word of obscure meaning. 

 Rotundifolia: Latin for round-leaved. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: thickets. 



THE PLANT: a vine; the stem and branches slightly zigzag, 

 hairless and covered with scattered prickles; branches 

 more or less square, although not nearly so much so as 



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