54 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
family consisting of three genera and over 200 species, most abundant 
in tropical regions. ,It is well to explain here that the delicate little 
trailing plant so widely cultivated for its foliage and sold by florists 
under the name Smilax, is not a Smdlaw at all, but belongs to the 
genus Asparagus, of the lily family. The true Smilaxes are vines, 
with woody or herbaceous, often prickly stems. They have broad 
leaves which are an exception to the usual order of things in Mono- 
cotyledonous plants in that they are netted-veined, with several par- 
Fic. 46.--The wild false hemp (Agave sisalana) showing habit of growth. After photograph 
by Mr. G. N. Collins at Sugar Loaf Key, Florida. 
allel primary nerves. The petiole bears tendrils to enable the plant 
to climb. The flowers are small and greenish, in axillary umbels,* 
and are strictly dioecious. They have a regular perianth consissing of 
six segments, and are succeeded by globose berries. Smilaw herbacea, 
(see Fig. 45) another common species of the eastern United States, is 
known as the carrion flower from the disgusting odor which it exhales 
when in bloom. The roots of several tropical species yield the drug 
known as sarsaparilla, while the same portions of other species are 
used in China for food. 
*An umbel is a Hower-cluster in which the pedicels or flower stalks all proceed 
from the same point, as in the carrot and related plants. 
