Asparagus.] smilaoe^. 507 



This is assuredly one of the most elegant of British plants, with quite exotic 

 and even tropical aspect, perfectly unlike any other native climber, and, though, 

 in common with many a home production, neglected and despised on that account, 

 is well worthy of general cultivation for the beauty of its ample, bright green and 

 highly varnished, heart-shaped leaves, gracefully slender racemes of pretty but 

 unassuming starry flowers, and festooned clusters of pellucid scarlet berries in 

 autumn. When stretching to the summit of some tall bush or hedge, its leaves, 

 from their imbricated arrangement and vertical position on the footstalks, seem as 

 if gliding from above, and suggest the idea of a precipitously descending stream 

 of foliage of the liveliest verdure. 



The young shoots of Black Bryony are said to be a good substitute for Aspa- 

 ragus, which they look very like on their first appearance above ground in the 

 spring, the two plants being in fact pretty closely allied in botanical character. 

 The root might possibly be rendered esculent, like the Yam {Dioscorea saliva), by 

 cultivation, and dissipation of the acrimony by roasting, &c. The berries have 

 scarcely any taste, and leave a very slight impression only of acrimony in the 

 mouth and fauces, yet if much handled, or the fresh juice be applied to the face, 

 the back of the hand or other sensible part of the skin, it almost immediately 

 causes a very troublesome tingling and itching, which lasts some time, and is fol- 

 lowed by a slight redness or minute pustular eruption on the cuticle: this singu- 

 lar action explains the efficacy of the berries, when steeped in gin, as a popular 

 remedy for chilblains in this island, where the power they possess, in common 

 with the root, of removing superficial discolovations of the surface from bruises, 

 sunburns, &c., is equally well known and applied in practice. 



My friend Lady Erskine informs me that the Black Bryony is called in Wales 

 ' Serpent's Meat,' and that an idea is there prevalent that those reptiles are always 

 lurking near the spots where the plant grows. ' Afal Adda' is one of its Welsh 



Order LXXVII. SMILACE^. 



" Perianth inferior, petaloid, 6 -parted. Stamens 6 (or 4 — 8), 

 inserted into the receptacle or on the perianth ; anthers bursting 

 inwards. Ovary superior, 3 -celled; ovules 1 or many in each cell. 

 Styles 1 — 3. Fruit succulent, not bursting." — Asparageee. — Bab. 

 Man. 



I. AspAEAGUs, Linn. Asparagus. 



"Flowers perfect or occasionally imperfect, jointed with the 

 pedicel. Perianth campanulate, tubular at the base, 6-partite, 

 deciduous. Stamens 6, distinct. Anthers peltate. Ovary 3-celled, 

 with 2 ovules in each cell. Stigmas 3, reflexed. Berry globose, 

 3-celled."— ^r. Fl. 



1. A., officinalis, Jj. Common Asparagus. Ynlg. Speerage Spar- 

 row-grass. Unarmed, stem herbaceous mostly erect rounded 

 much branched, leaves fasciculate setaceous flexible, peduncles 

 jointed in the middle. Sm. E. Fl. ii. p. 153. Br. Fl. p. 434. 

 Lind. Syn. p. 267. E. B. v. t. 339. Curt. Br. Entom. xvi. t. et 

 fol. 740. 



In sandy or stony places by the sea-shore; very rare. J"/. June — August. If. 



E. Med.— A single plant on the shore at the mouth of the Wootton river, 1842. 



A very few plants on the shingly beach betwixt Byde and Binstead, probably 



