142 A. FLORA OF MANILA 



in the inner angles of the cells. Fruit a 3-, rarely 1-celled, 1- to many- 

 seeded capsule or a berry. 



Genera 215, species about 2,500, in all parts of the world, 15 genera and, 

 about 2.5 species in the Philippines. 



1. Prickly tendril-bearing vines, with 3- to 5-nerved leaves, the flowers 



small, in axillary umbels 1. Smilax 



1. Herbs or shrubby plants without tendrils, usually erect and unarmed. 



2. Leaves replaced by linear or acicular cladodes 2. Asparagus 



2. Leaves present, broad, linear, or cylindric- 

 3. Stemless herbs. 



4. Strong-scented herbs from underground bulbs, with narrow or 



cylindric leaves; flowers umbellate 3. Allium 



4. Rootstock stolonif erous ; leaves broad, flat, fleshy; flowers race- 

 mose 4. Sansevieria 



3. Shrubby plants. 



5. Leaves thin, colored, long-petioled 5. Cordyline 



5. Leaves rigid, sessile, tipped with a sharp spine 6. Yucca 



1. SMILAX Linnaeus 



Climbing, prickly, more or less woody vines. Leaves alternate, 3- to 

 7-nerved, reticulate with cross-veinlets, the petiole usually bearing 2 

 tendrils above the base. Flowers small, dioecious, in axillary, peduncled 

 umbels, the perianth-segments 6, free. Male flowers with 6 or more free 

 stamens. Female flowers with 3 or 6 staminodes. Ovary 3-angled, 3-celled ; 

 ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. li"ruit a globose, 1- to- 3-seeded berry. (The 

 Greek name of the yew.) 



Species about 200 in temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres, 

 about 7 in the Philippines. - — 



1. S. bracteata Presl. Obat, Camagsa-obat; Hampas-tigbalang (Tag.) ; 



Banag (Vis.). 



A woody vine reaching a height of several meters, the stems armed with 

 few to many stout spines. Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, 7-nerved, 8 to 

 13 cm long, base broadly rounded or slightly cordate, apex shortly and 

 abruptly acuminate, of about the same color on both surfaces. Umbels 

 many-flowered, about 2 cm in diameter, in axillary racemes. Flowers 

 greenish-yellow, about 5 mm long, fragrant. Berries globose, 5 to 8 mm 

 in diameter, black when mature. 



In thickets, Masambong, fl. May-June; widely distributed in the Philip- 

 pines. Endemic. 



2. ASPARAGUS Linnaeus 



Erect, climbing or straggling, herbaceous plants from stout, creeping, or 

 sometimes tuberiferous rootstocks, the stems round, grooved, or angled. 

 Leaves reduced to minute scales, bearing in their axils tufts of needle-like 

 or flattened, green branchlets (cladodes). Flowers small axillary, solitary, 

 fascicled, or racemed, their pe3icers*~jointed. Perianth campanulate, 6- 

 parted. Stamens inserted on the bases of :..- segments. Ovary 3-angled, 

 3-celled, cells with 2 or more ovules. Fruit a small, globose, 3- to 6-seeded 

 berry. (The ancient Greek name.) 



Species about 100, in Europe and temperate and tropical Asia and Africa, 

 one indigenous and several introduced species in the Philippines. 



