606 DIOSCOEBACE^. [Tavius. 



Perennial plants,* wilh twining herbaceous stems without tendrils, natives of 

 Europe, North Africa and the Levant. 



1. T. communis, L. Black Bryony. Our Lady's .Seal. Vect. 

 Wild Vine. Murrain Berries. Leaves undivided cordate acute. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. U56. Sm.E.Fl.iY.Zil. Br. Fl. iSl. Bab. Man. 

 300. E. B. ii. t. 91. 



In woods, thickets, groves, h«dges, fences and bushy pastures; extremely com- 

 mon throughout the island. Fl. May — July. Fr. September, October. If.. 



A very smooth glabrous vine, of universal occurrence with us, often seen twining, 

 even arouud the stalks of corn and herbaceous plants, in open fields and pastures. 

 Root very large and thick, consisting of an aggregate of irregular fusiform or digi- 

 tate tubers, beset with wiry fibres ; externally light brown or ash-gray and wrinkled, 

 white, soft, fleshy and sterile within, and abounding with an acrid clammy juice. 

 Stems annual, about the thickness of a quill, simple, purplish below, solid, slightly 

 angular and twisted, climbing over hedges and bushes often to a great length, and 

 twining, but without tendiils. Leaves alternate, very various in size and form, but 

 all modifications of heart-shaped, the lower and middle sometimes as much as 

 5 or 6 inches long and 7 or 8 inches wide at base, those nearer the summit much 

 smaller, more truly heart-shaped ; mostly mucronato-acuminate, with long, 

 abrupt, pale, very acute points; sometimes so suddenly tapering from above 

 the base as almost to appear 3-lobed, at other times cordato-rotundate, with 

 very short points, bright lucid green, often turning to a dark purple or violet, for 

 the most part shiniug as if highly varnished, especially underneath, more rarely 

 with litlle or no lustre ; quite entire, but wavy along their margin, which gives 

 them a somewhat crenate aspect, strongly 7- or 9-nerved, with numerous trans- 

 verse anastomosing veins, firm and a little fleshy in texture, but becoming thin and 

 membranaceous in drying; petioles yevy long, stiff and spreading, a little angu- 

 lar, inserted nearly at a right angle with the midrib of the leaf, swollen and fleshy 

 at their base, where are situated a pair of small, fleshy, mostly reflexed stipules, 

 that look like abortive tendrils. Flowers small, yellowish green, shortly pedicel- 

 late ; bract subulate, solitary, or in pairs at the base or above the middle of each 

 pedicel. S laminate fiowers in clusters of 2 or 3 together, on long, lax, simple or 

 slightly branched, naked racemes, the inferior of which usually much exceed in 

 length the leaf, from the axil of which they spring. Segments of the perianth 

 oblong, obtuse, a little recurved, with deflexed edges, the alternate ones tapering 

 above the middle and somewhat pointed. Stamens erect, opposite the segments 

 of the perianth, on a glandular nectariferous base, always surrounding very dis- 

 tinct rudimentary organs of the fertile plant; filaments thick, green and angular, 

 their tips spreading; anMej-s roundish, 2-lobed, extrorse ; pollen bright yellow. 

 Pistillate flowers like the staminate, but smaller and paler, in far shorter racemes, 

 never equalling the petioles in length. Style thick, deeply 3-cleft, each division 

 terminating in a recurved bifid lobe. At the base of each segment of the perianth 

 is a distinct rudimentary filament without the anther ; hence this plant is less 

 perfectly dioecious than many others, as in neither sex is the suppression of the 

 organ of the other absolute and complete. Berries in short dense clusters, ovoid 

 or subglobose, as large as sparrow's eggs, bright scariet, shining and slightly pel- 

 lucid when ripe, very succulent, 3-celled. Seeds 1, 2, or 3 in each cell, nearly 

 globular, smooth and reddish. 



* The genus Tamus, of which two species are known, is intimately allied in 

 aspect and character to the curious Hottentot's Bread {Testudinaria Elepltuntipes), 

 often met with in our conservatories ; nor is the relationship less close in each of 

 these particulars between our plant and Rajania and Dioscorea, the latter of which 

 furnishes the valuable farinaceous Yam of tropical countries. Tamus also agrees 

 with Smilax in habit and having baccate fruit, but differs in its inferior ovary and 

 erect seeds. 



