SMILAX. 



with fimple, alternate, ribbed, entire leaves, with or without 

 tendrils ; the ftem moftly (hrubby, fmooth or prickly, round 

 or angular; flowers generally umbellate. The following 

 examples may fuffice. 



Sea. I. Stem prickly, angular. Fourteen fpecies in 

 Willdenow. 



S. a/pera. Red-berried Rough Smilax. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1458. Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. Sm. Fl. Grace. Sibth. 

 1,959, unpubli(hed. Mattli. Vaigr. v. 2. 551. Ger. Em. 

 859. (S. afpera, rutilo frudu ; Cluf. Hift. v. i. iiz.)— 

 Stem angular, very prickly. Leaves oblong-heart-lhaped, 

 fomewhat haflate, with feven or nine ribs, coriaceous, bor- 

 dered with fpinous teeth. — Native of hedg:es and thickets, 

 throughout the fouth of Europe. Dr. Sibthorp found it 

 abundantly in marfhy and rough ftony ground, in Greece 

 and all the neighbouring iflands, flowering late in autumn. 

 'Yhejlems climb, by means of tendrils, like our Bryony, and 

 hang in feiloons from the tops of hedges. They are 

 woody, perennial, branched, zig-zag, plentifully armed with 

 ftrong, fcattered, hooked prickles, as are likewife the/ooN 

 fialks and edges of the evergreen leaves. Flonuers white, 

 with a fleih-coloured tint extended to their ftalks, in fmall 

 umbellate tufts, difpofed in terminal, zig-zag, fmooth 

 clujlers. Berries of a dull fcarlet red, the fize of currants, 

 umbilicated, with three feeds in each. — This is doubtlefs 

 the o-pAaf T{»;^!io; of Diofcorides ; the Lofty, or Woody, 

 Bramble of the modern Greeks. 



The figure in Plukenet's Phytographia, t. 1 10. f. 3, indi- 

 cated as a variety, is hardly fuch, but exhibits nearly the 

 ufual form of the leaves ; what has been generally taken 

 for 5. a/pera being in faft the following fpecies, whofe 

 leaves are always broader. 



S. nigra. Black-berried Rough Smilax. Willd. n. 2. 

 Prodr. Fl. Grxc. n. 2313, unpublilhed. (S. afpera S ; 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 145^' S. afpera nigro fruftu ; Cluf. Hift. 

 V.I. 113. S. afpera lufitanica ; Ger.Em. 860.) — Steman- 

 gular, prickly. Leaves oblong-heart-fliaped, feven-ribbed, 

 coriaceous, fmooth at the edges. — Native of hedges in 

 Spain, Portugal, and the fouth of France. Dr. Sibthorp 

 obferved it about Prufa, in Bithynia. The ^ems are lefs 

 prickly than in the former ; the leaves broader, not at all 

 dilated at the fides, nor contracted in the middle, fo as to 

 approach a haftate form ; their edges very flightly, or not 

 at all, prickly ; and the berries are black. 



5. excel/a. Tall Smilax. Linn. Sp. PI. 1458. Willd. 

 n. 5. Ait. n. 2. Prodr. Fl. Gnc. n. 2314, unpublilhed. 

 (S. orientalis, farmentis acnleatis, excelfas arbores fcanden- 

 tibus, foliis non fpinofis ; Tourn. Cor. 45. Buxb. Cent. 1. 

 l8. t. 27.) — Stem angular, prickly. Leaves ovate, flightly 

 heart-fhaped, with five or feven ribs, and no marginal 

 prickles. — Native of the countiy near Conftantinople. 

 Gathered by Dr. Sibthorp in woods at the village of Bel- 

 grad. Buxbaum fays it is frequent in hedges about villages 

 in Thrace, as well as in Pontus and Cappadocia, and that 

 it is very ufeful for fences and (hade. The Jlo'wers are yel- 

 lowilh-green ; the berries red. 



Whether S. afpera, Alpin. Egypt. 141, cited with doubt 

 by Linnseus, be this plant, is not clear to us. Willdenow 

 thinks it a diilinft fpecies, not yet defcribed by fyftematic 

 writers. 



6. Sarfaparilla. Medicinal Smilax, or Sarfaparilla. Linn. 

 Sp. 1459. Willd. n. 9. Ait. n. 4. Purlh n. 5. Woodv. 

 Med. Bot. t. 194. (S. peruviana, Salfaparilla ; Ger. Em. 

 859.) — Stem prickly, fomewhat quadrangular. Leaves 

 eUiptical, pointed, abrupt, three-ribbed ; without prickles ; 

 flightly glaucous beneath. Common flower-ftalk longer 

 than the footftalk. — Common in the hedges and fwamps 



of North America, flowering in June and July. Purjh. 

 The Jlem is flout, a little zig-zag, roundilh, with about 

 four flight unequal angles, and a few fcattered hooked 

 prickles. Full-grown leaves nearly orbicular, two and a 

 half inches broad, abrupt or contrafted at each extremity, 

 with a fliort terminal point ; their furface finely reticulated 

 with veins, and marked with three ftrong ribs, the lateral 

 ribs defcribed by Willdenow hardly deferving to be fo 

 denominated. Footjlalks fliort, broad, channelled, each 

 crowned with two tendrils, fubfequently deciduous. Flowers 

 yellowifli-white, in axillary, foUtary, (talked umbels. Ber- 

 ries red, according to Woodville, whofe figure, the only 

 one extant, has not been noticed, his work being never 

 quoted by Mr. Alton, though it furely ranks high as an 

 ufeful medical book, and the plates, by Mr. Sowerby, are, 

 as far as poffible, original. It is much to be wi(hed that 

 what are merely done from dried fpecimens, or from other 

 authors, had been every where fo acknowledged, by which 

 the authority of the publication would have been unim- 

 peachable, and on a par with any whatever. For the hil- 

 tory, and medical qualities, of the root, fee Sarsaparilla. 



S. melaftomifoUa. Rough-ribbed Smilax. — Stem with 

 many angles, denfely and minutely prickly ; as well as the 

 feven ribs of the ovate, pointed, flightly hcart-(haped, 

 rough-edged leaves. — Gathered by Mr. Menzies, in the 

 Sandwich iflands. A fine new fpecies, whofe branches are 

 zig-zag, nearly round, with numerous angles, all copioufly 

 befet with minute, ftraight, rigid prickles. Leaves three 

 inches long, and near one and a half broad, with five prin- 

 cipal ribs, and a pair of flender, wavy marginal ones. 

 Thefe all bear underneath copious prickles, like thofe of 

 the branches and footjlalks, ranged in feveral rows on the 

 larger ribs. The reticulated veins are alfo rough with 

 prickles, fo that the leaf altogether refembles that of fome 

 fpecies of Melajloma. Umbels axillary, ftalked, one or more 

 from each leaf, accompanied by large concave, (heathing 

 braBeas. 



Sett. 2. Stem prickly, round. Nine fpecies in Willdenow. 



S. ati/lralis. Strong-veined New Holland Smilax. Br. 

 n. 1. — Stem round, with copious prickles. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, acute, five-ribbed, fmooth, without prickles. Ten- 

 drils in pairs on the footftalks. — Gathered by Mr. Brown, 

 near Port Jackfon, New South Wales. We received from 

 Kew garden, in 1798, a fpecimen in flower of what we 

 prefume to be this fpecies. It is diftinguifhed by the 

 copious, ftrong, ftraight prickles, of its round, flightly 

 ftriated, zig-zag branches. The leaves are rigid and coria- 

 ceous, fmooth, with five ribs, and innumerable prominent 

 reticulated veins ; their bafe fomewhat heart-fhaped ; the 

 footjlalks (hort, broad, channelled, bearing from the middle 

 two long fpiral tendrils. Floiuers white, numerous, in 

 axillary umbels, whofe ftalks rather exceed the footftalks. 



S. China. Chinefe Smilax, or Cliina-root. IJnn. Sp. 

 PI. 1459. Wiild. n. 15. Ait. n. 5. Woodv. Med. Bot. 

 t. 236. (Sankira, vulgo Quaqiiara ; Smilax minus fpinofa, 

 fruCtu rubicundo, radice virtuofa. Chime didta ; Ksmpf. 

 Amoen. 781. t. 782. Frutex convolvulaceus fpinofus fini- 

 cus, &c. ; Pluk. Amalth. loi. t. 408. f. i. China vul- 

 garis officinarum ; Ger Em. 1618.) — Stem roundifh, with 

 fcattered prickles. Leaves roundifh- ovate, acute at each 

 end, with three principal ribs. — Native of China and Japan ; 

 faid to have been cultivated by Miller, in 1759. The Jlem 

 is ftrongly zig-zag. Leaves one and a half or two inches 

 long, and nearly as broad, fmooth, with three ftraight 

 principal ribs, and two wavy, more flight, lateral ones. 

 Footjlalks bearing two, or more, long twifted tendrils. 

 Flowers, according to Ksmpfer, grcenifh-yellow, in umbels, 



CM) 



