HERB-PARIS TRIBE— LILY TRIBE 281 



r. Tamus {Black Bryony) 

 I. T. communis (Black Bryony).— The only British species. 

 Root a large, solid tuber, black externally=; stem slender, twining 

 among bushes to the length of many feet, and clothed with numerous 

 shining, heart-shaped leaves, and clusters of small green flowers, 

 which are succeeded by elliptical scarlet berries. The leaves are 

 reticulated with veins, somewhat like those of Dicotyledonous 

 plants, but they are not jointed to the stem. Late in autumn they 

 turn dark purple or bright yellow, when, assisted by the scarlet 

 berries, they make a very showy appearance. In winter the stems 

 die down to the ground. — Fl. May to July. Perennial. 



Natural Order LXXXIV 



TRILLIACE^.— Herb-Paris Tribe 



Sepals and petals 6-8, coloured or green ; stamens 6-10 ; anthers 

 very long, their cells, one on each side of the filament ; ovary 

 superior, with 3-5 cells, and as many styles ; fruit, a 3- to 5-celled 

 berry ; seeds numerous. A small Order, containing about thirty 

 herbaceous plants with tuberous roots, whorled, netted leaves, 

 and large, solitary, terminal flowers. They grow in the woods of 

 the temperate climates, and, like the plants of the last Order, bear 

 some resemblance to Dicotyledonous plants. The structure of the 

 seed, however, and the fact that the leaves are not jointed to the 

 stem, fix them in the class Endogenous or Monocotyledonous plants. 

 Their properties are acrid and narcotic. 



I. Paris (Herb-Paris). — Sepals and petals 8, very narrow ; 

 stamens 8-10. (Name from the Latin, par, paris, equal, on account 

 of the unvarying number of the leaves.) 



I. Paris (Herb-Paris) 



I. P. quadrifolia (Four-leaved Herb-Paris, True Love- Knot). — 

 The only British sjjecies. A singular plant, with a stem about a 

 foot high, bearing near its summit four large pointed leaves, from 

 the centre of which rises a solitary large green flower. Damp woods ; 

 local. — Fl. May. Perennial. 



Natural Order LXXXV 



LILIACE^.— Lily Tribe 



Perianth of 6 petal-like divisions, distinct or united into a tube ; 

 stamens 6 ; ovary superior, not united with the perianth, 3-celled, 

 many-seeded ; style i ; stigma simple or 3-iobed ; - capsule 3-cclled, 

 3-valved. The parts of the flower are very rarely in fours or eights. 

 An extensive family of plants, of some 2500 species, of which the 

 majority are herbaceous, with bulbous roots and showy flowers ; 

 some, however, attain the dimensions of shrubs, or even trees, in 



