PETALOIDE.E 277 



into a spine, with tufts of axillary, needle-like cladodes 

 (see fig. 56); another species of Asparagus is culti- 

 vated for its young shoots, which are much esteemed 

 as a vegetable ; murga or mugra or Indian Bow-string 

 Hemp {Sansevieria zeylanica, Willd.), a perennial herb 

 with a rosette of large, linear, fleshy, rigid, concave, 

 sharp-pointed leaves, i to 4 feet long, which yield a 

 tenacious fibre; ghrita-kumari or Aloe {Aloe perfo- 

 liata), a common herb, with sword -shaped, erect, 

 dentate, fleshy leaves, i to ij feet long, from which 

 a mucilage known as Aloe 

 is prepared, is an African 

 plant naturalized in this coun- 

 try, and quite different from 

 the American Aloe {Agave, 

 belonging to the Nat. Order 

 Amaryllidacece) ; Draccena 

 and Yucca, common arbores- 



Figf. 250.— Sata-moolee {Ax/>aragyts 



cent shrubs of our gardens, racemosus) 



characterized by secondary 



thickening of the wood (exceptional in Monocotyle- 

 dons) and by possession of concentric bundles; 

 kumarika or Sarsaparilla {SmHax macrophylla) (see 

 fig. 60), a prickly climber, with net-veined leaves 

 (exceptional in Monocotyledons), climbing by means 

 of stipular tendrils, resembling very much the Yams 

 (Dtoscorea) in appearance and habit, specially in 

 net-veined leaves, but differing from the latter in 

 having superior ovary; the leaves of Phormium tenax, 

 a native of New Zealand, yield a valuable fibre known 

 as New Zealand Flax. The genus Liliiim, after which 

 the family is named, is widely spread in the North 

 Temperate Zone, and forms a conspicuous feature of 

 the landscape. This genus has nothing to do with the 

 Water-lily and the other so-called Lilies of this country, 



