860 XLI. ASPAEAGE^. 



'S-celled; STYLE simple. Feuit aherry. Seeds with black crustaceous testa; albumen 

 fleshy ; RADICLE variahle in direction. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, and then marked with annular scars. Koot tuberous 

 or fibrous. Stem sometimes sarmentose {Eustrephus, Myrsiphyllum, &c.). Leaves 

 distichous or alternate, distant, or fascicled at the top of the branches, often 

 sheathing, sessile or petioled, linear, ensiform, ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, nerves 

 parallel {Dracwna), or divergent (Cordyline), sometimes reduced to membranous 

 scales, and bearing in their axils fascicled filiform simple green branches, which 

 replace leaves {Asparagus). Flowers 5, or rarely diclinous {Asparagus), solitary, or 

 variously disposed ; pedicels jointed. Perianth inferior, petaloid, 6-partite or -fid ; 

 segments campanulate, connivent or spreading. Stamens 6, inserted on the recep- 

 tacle, or base of the perianth, rarely on its throat {Cordyline) ; filaments filiform, 

 sometimes swollen at the top {Dianella); anthers 2-celled, basifixed, linear or sagit- 

 tate, or rarely dorsifixed {Asparagus), and versatile {Cordyline). Ovabt 3-celled ; 

 s%Ze simple; stigma 3-lobed ; ovules 1-2- several, on the inner angle of the cells, 

 semi-anatropous or anatropous. Berry globose or 3-lobed, 3-celled, often 1-seeded 

 by arrest. Seeds sub-globose, ovoid or angular ; testa black, brilliant, crustaceous 

 or coriaceous ; hilum usually ventral, sometimes strophiolate {Cordyline) ; albumen 

 fleshy. Embryo axile or excentric, straight or curved ; radicle centripetal, inferior 

 or vague. 



PEINCIPAL GENEEA. 



* Dianella. Myrsiphyllum. Eustrephus. 



* Cordyline. * Asparagus. * Draciena. 



AsparayecB are intermediate between Liliacece and Simlacea, from which they are with difficulty 

 diatinguished. They differ from Liliacece only in their berried fruit ; and their black and crustaceous 

 testa brings them especially near the, tribes Hyacinthinem and Asphodelece, They are still nearer <STOi/aeeis 

 in their fleshy fruit and habit, the testa being their only differential mark ; this difference was disregarded 

 by Jussieu and A. Richard, and most botanists now unite Asparagece and Smilacecs with Ziliacece proper ; 

 but by this combination the characters of Litiacecs become so indefinite that various genera which do 

 not belong to it must be technically included, and the limitation of one of the most natural groups of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom be rendered very uncertain. It is with the view of clearly defining these families, and 

 thus simplifying their study, that we have isolated Liliacete, Asparayea and Smilacece, and placed the 

 nearly-related Aphylianthes, Xm-otes, Abama, OpMopogon, Aspidistra, &c., in close proximity to them. 

 The species of Asparagus are dispersed over the temperate and hot regions of the Old World, but are absent 

 from the New. Cordyline inhabits the tropics [and temperate regions] of the southern hemisphere. 

 Dianella is scattered over Madagascar, tropical India, Malacca, Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand ; 

 Eustrephus is Australian ; Myrsiphyllum is confined to South Africa. The true Dracaenas are met with in 

 Brazil [?], India, Africa, and their neighbouring islands. 



AsparagecB are not less distinguished from the true Liliaceai by their botanical characters than by 

 their properties, especially those residing in their organs of vegetation. The roots of the Asparagus {A. 

 offlcinalis) were formerly reckoned among the five principal aperient roots ; its berries and seeds were 

 also prescribed as diuretics and aphrodisiacs; it is cultivated throughout Europe for its shoots, from 

 which a sedative syrup is prepared, recommended in affections of the heart. Its properties are due to a 

 peculiar principle (asparayine), which abounds most in a Mediterranean species {A. acutifulitis). The 

 roots of Cordyline are used in tropical Asia for dysentery ; the flowers of C. refleaa are considered 

 euimenagogues. C. australis, from the South Sea Islands, produces a fleshy root called ii by the 

 New Zealanders, who use it as food, and also prepare from it a spirit scught by European sailors for its 



