LILY FAMILY. Liliaceae. 



Asparagus 



Asparagus 



This beautiful perennial, so well known 

 as a vegetable, is not quite as familiar to 

 ufflcinalis us in its a?sthetic dress. Its leaves (or prop- 



Green=yellow ^^.^^.^ j^g branchlets), are threadlike ; and 

 it assumes a busliy, almost larchlike figure 

 as it grows older, and becomes decorated with round, 

 scarlet berries. The tiny green-yellow flowers are six- 

 parted, and rather inconspicuous. The name is ancient. 

 Adventive from the old country, and a frequent escape 

 from kitchen gardens everywhere. It is a favorite among 

 the farmers' wives who use it decoratively in their homes ; 

 certainly it is not less decorative than the florist's famous 

 Aspcu^agus plumosiis. 



A really beautiful woodland plant slightly 

 ^gj.^ resembling Solomon's Seal, but bearing 



Smilacina its SpirHealike cluster of fine white flowers 



racemosa at the tip of the Stem. The light blue- 



^*^'*® green leaves are oblong and ovate-lance- 



shaped, taper-pointed, and with very short 

 stems — hardly any, in fact. The tiny flower has six 

 distinct white sepals, and is perfect, with six stamens 

 and a pistil. The flower cluster is pyramidal, and the 

 zigzag plant-stem gracefully inclines. The berries, 

 smaller than peas, are at first greenish then yellowish 

 white speckled with madder brown, and finally, in late 

 September, a dull ruby-red of translucent character. 

 They possess an aromatic taste. A familiar plant of the 

 White Mt. region The name is a diminutive of Smilax, 

 without appropriate application. Common in moist 

 copses and beside woodland roads. 1-3 feet high. Me., 

 south to S. C. and west to Minn, and Ark. 



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