Smtlactnew— Smilax. 533 
toothed persistent coriaceous 7- to 9-ribbed leaves. Berries 
red. 
S. Mawritanica, from the same region, has larger unarmed 
leaves. 
Tamus commicnis, Black Bryony, is an indigenous climber 
producing annual stems from a large tuberous rootstock, 
cordate-ovate glussy ribbed leaves, and inconspicuous wnisexual 
flowers followed by clusters of oblong scarlet berries. It be- 
longs to the Dioscdrecr, distinguished from the above family 
by having an inferior several-seeded fruit, ete. 
Orpsr XIIL—MELANTHACER. 
This group of genera is separated from the Liliacee by its 
extrorse anthers and the septicidal dehiscence of its capsular 
fruit. It includes bulbous, tuberous, and fibrous-rooted herbs 
with narrow or broad foliage and showy or inconspicuous 
flowers. The genera Colchicum and Bulbocddium closely 
resemble the Crocuses in appearance. Narthécium ossifra- 
gum, Bog Asphodel, an indigenous bog plant, associated with 
these plants when they are included! as a tribe of the Liliacec, 
has a loculicidally 3-valved capsule. It has short stiff linear- 
nerved leaves and bright yellow racemose flowers, appearing in 
Summer. About 30 genera and 100 species are referred to 
this order. . 
1. VERATRUM. 
Herbaceous plants with creeping rootstocks, broad con- 
spicuously-nerved leaves, and branched panicles of numerous 
polygamous flowers. Perianth of six spreading lobes united at 
the base into a shorttube. Name from vere, truly, and atrum, 
black, the colour of the roots. 
1. V. album. White Hellebore.—A tall branching plant 
with ovate or elliptical-ribbed and plaited leaves. Flowers 
small but numerous, greenish white. An effective plant, 
native of Central and Southern Europe, flowering in August. 
2. V. nigruin. Black Hellebure.—A larger and finer plant 
than the preceding, with purplish flowers. A native of the 
same region, 
Helonias bullata, syn. H. latifolia, is a showy bog. plant 
from North America with oblong-spathulate radical leaves 
from a tuberous rootstock, and small scapose purplish flowers, 
