SMILAX. 



on (lender, folitary, axillary ftalks, longer than the foot- 

 italks. Berries tlie fize of black currants, fcarlet, mealy, 

 aultere like a medlar, faid to contain four, five, or fix 

 feeds, a jrreater number than ufual in this genus. We 

 llrongly fufpeft that more than one fpecies is confounded 

 under the hi'Aory of this fpecies. The Linnxan Chinefe 

 fpecimeiis have more heart-fhaped leaves than any of the 

 figures exhibit, nor is their Jlem prickly. Very poffibly, 

 howerer, thefe do not belong to the officinal China-root. 



This root was brought into Europe, towards the middle 

 of the 1 6th century, with ftrong recommendations of its vir- 

 tues, as a cure for the venereal difeafe, as well as for various 

 chronic, cutaneous, or rheumatic diforders. Thefe are 

 neither confirmed by experience, nor rendered probable 

 by the fenfible qualities of the root itfelf, which i$ farina- 

 ceous and nearly infipid. 



S. caduca. Deciduous Smilax. Linn. Sp. PI. 1460. 

 Willd. n. 22. Ait. n. 9. Purfh n. 12. — Stem round, 

 with diftant ilraight prickles ; branches angular. Leaves 

 ovate, pointed, five-ribbed. Common flower-llalks hardly 

 longer than the footftalks. Tendrils capillary, much 

 fhorter than the leaves. — In dry fields, from Canada to 

 Virginia, flowering in June. PxirJIi. The Jlem is rather 

 ftout, quite round when full-grown, but the branches are 

 decidedly angular, and (Irongly zig-zag. Prickles dillant, 

 ftout, tipped with black. Leaves broadly ovate, or (lightly 

 heart-fhaped, fmooth, green on both fides, very finely 

 veined, their lateral ribs often obfolete. Tendrils very fmall 

 and flender, from the middle of each footflalk. Flowers 

 few, greenifh, in fohtary umbels. 



S. fpinulofa. Briftly Smilax. — Stem round, with crowded, 

 capillary, curved prickles ; branches fomewhat angular. 

 Leaves ovate-oblong, pointed, five-ribbed ; glaucous be- 

 neath. Tendrils capillary. — Sent from Pennfylvania, by 

 the late Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, who thought it had been 

 improperly confounded with 5. caduca. The quantity of 

 fine fetaceous prickles, on the Jlem or branches, feems to be 

 variable ; but the more oblong leaves, opaque and glaucous 

 beneath, are very different from the lall. We cannot refer 

 this to any of Mr. Purfh's fpecies. 



Sc£l. 3. Stem wilhout prickles, angular. Seven fpecies in 

 Willdenow. 



S. latifolia. Broad-leaved Smilax. Br. n. 4. Ait. n. 1 1. 

 — " Stem angular, without prickles. Leaves ovate, five- 

 ribbed, fmooth ; fomewhat heart-fhaped or obtufe at the 

 bafe. Footlfalks bearing the tendrils." — Gathered by Mr. 

 Brown in the tropical part of New Holland. Sent to 

 Kew, in 1791, by fir Jofeph Banks. It is there treated 

 as a greenhoufe plant, but has not yet flowered. 



S. herlacea. Herbaceous Smilax. Linn. Sp. PI. 1460. 

 Willd. n. 27. Ait. n. 12. Piirfh n. 16. (S. claviculata 

 hcderifolia tota laevis, e terra Mariana ; Pluk. Phyt. t. 225. 

 f. 3, marked 4.) — Stem herbaceous, angular, fimple, eredt. 

 Leaves oval, fevcii-ribbed. Tendrils from the bafe of the 

 long footllalks. Common flowcr-flalks very long, com- 

 prclied. — In dry fields, on the edges of woods, from 

 New York to Carolina, flowering in June and July. Pitrjh. 

 The root is perennial. Stems annual, brownifll-piirple, 

 fmooth, with a pair of revolute tendrils to each leaf. Umbels 

 globofe, of numerous Jloiuers, on axillary Italks, near fix 

 inches long. Berries dark purple, depreffcd. — Plukcnet's 

 figure, if rightly quoted, is a very bad one, tlie leaves being 

 not fufHciently elliptical, and the foolJlalLs much too fhort. 



Scdt. 14. Stem luithout priciles, round. Eleven fpecies 

 in Willdenow. 



S. elliptica. Elliptical Smilax. Br. n. 3. — " Stem with- 

 out prickles ; branches round, ftriatcd. Leaves clliptic- 



VoL, XXXIII. 



ovate, fomewhat pointed, five-ribbed, fmooth ; rather acute 

 at the bafe. Footftalks bearing the tendrils." — Gathered 

 by Mr. Brown in the tropical part of New Holland. 



S. glyciphylla. Sweet-leaved Smilax. Smith in White's 

 Voyage, 230. t. 24. f. A, B. Br. n. 2.— Stem round, 

 without prickles. Leaves ovate-oblong, acute, three-rib- 

 bed, fmooth, fomewhat revolute ; glaucous beneath. Foot- 

 ftalks bearing the tendrils. — Sent from the neighbourhood 

 of Port Jackfon, New South Wales, among the firlt commu- 

 nications from thence. The leaves, having a very fwcet 

 tafl;e, like liquorice-root, accompanied with fome bitternefs, 

 were ufed by the firil fettlers in that country, to make a 

 fort of tea, which was thought good for the fcurvy. The 

 Jlem is wiry, fmooth, and flender. Leaves about two or 

 three inches long, reticulated, coriaceous ; broad and rounded 

 at the bafe, on fhortifh curved fooljlalks. Flowers in axil- 

 lary, ftalked umbels. 



S. Pfeudo-china. Baftard Virginian China-root. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1461. Willd. n. 38. Ait. n. 15. Purlh n. 10, 

 excluding Sloane's fynonym. (S. virginiana, fpinis innocuis 

 armata, latis canellx fohis, radice arundinacei craffa et car- 

 nofa ; Pluk. Phyt. t. 1 10. f. 5. China fpuria nodofa ; Bauh. 

 Pin. 297. Pfeudo-china radix ex Virginia ; Cluf. Exot. 83. ) 

 --Stem round, without prickles. Leaves ovate, pointed, five- 

 ribbed. Tendrils from the bafe of the footftalks. Common 



fiower-ftalks longer than the leaves In fandy fields and dry 



woods, from New Jerfey to Carolina, flowering in May and 

 June. AJhrub. The roots very large, fearched after by 

 hogs. Purjl:>. The Jlem is of a purplift-brown, very fmooth. 

 Branches long, flender, leafy, climbing by means of flender, 

 not very long, tendrils, fpringing in pairs from the very bafe 

 of the zngnXnTfootJlaUs. Leaves two inches, or 2\, in length, 

 an inch or more in breadth, flightly heart-fhaped at the 

 bafe, undulated or crifped, but hardly crenate, at the mar- 

 gin, reticulated with veins, which, as well as the ribs, are 

 fometimes rough with minute prickles beneath. Floiuer- 

 Jlalhs axillary, umbellate, longer than the leaves. — The root 

 of this fpecies is faid to have been brought from Virginia 

 for the true China-root, of which we have fpoken under the 

 fecond feiftion. They feem to agree in their farinaceous or 

 ftarch-like fubftance, which, it feems, is common to the roots 

 cf various other plants of this genus. Sloane defcribes one 

 under the name of S. afpera, fruftu nigro, radice nodofa, 

 magna, Ixvi, farinacea, China difta ; Sloane Jam. v. i. 231. 

 t. 143. f. I. This, he fays, ha$ a root as thick as a man's 

 leg, crooked and fwelling, with a thin red-brown (Icin, and 

 a friable light red internal fubftance, giving a roddifli tinc- 

 ture to water. Its quahties are like the real China-root, 

 in the place of which Sloane recommends its ufe, at Icaft in 

 the Weft Indies. Linnius cites (his fynonym under his 

 S. Pfeudo-china, with which it has little connection ; and he 

 refers alfo to the S. afpera, foliis trincrviis oblongis, pctiolis 

 biclaviculatis, Browne's Jamaica, 359, a fpecimen of which 

 is attached, in the Linnasan herbarium, to the real S. Pfeudo- 

 china. The leaves of this are elliptical. Common Jloiuer- 

 Jlalks extremely ftiort. Tendrils from the midillc of each 

 footJlalL Stem angular ; f;iid to be prickly in the lower 

 part. By thefe latter charafters this plant of Browne 

 fhould belong to the firit fcdtion ; while Sloane's, defcribcd 

 with a round and very pricklyj^i'm, mult be referred to the 

 fecond. Moreover, Browne's is defcribcd with fk-nder 

 branching roots, and we mult prefume that his Smilay, n. i, 

 is rather Sloane's plant, as Mr. Lunan, in hisHortusJa- 

 maiceiifis, v. i. 180, makes it. We do not choofo to run 

 the riflt of determining thefe feveral fpecies, without au- 

 thentic fpccimens, more efpecially as Dr. Swart z li.is \:k 

 them untouched. Two more of thi» tribe arc reprefented in 

 A a Plumjer's 



