CHAP. CXV. 



£MILA CEJE. 



2509 



C. ^ricoVdes. The Erica-like Ceratiola. 



t. 2758 ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 712. 



Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 222. ; Bot. 

 Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. t. 13. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Flowers in the axils 



of the upper leaves, solitary, except 



a small abortive one by the side of 



the principal flower. 



Description, $c. An upright much 

 branched shrub, greatly resembling a 

 heath, and varying from 2 ft. to 8 ft. 

 high. Branches subverticillate, erect, 

 and marked with the remains of the 

 petioles of the fallen leaves. The 

 upper and younger branches retain 

 their leaves, which are slightly tomen- 

 tose. Leaves in whorls of 4, spreading, 

 long, linear, rigid, acerose. Flowers 

 very small. A native of South Carolina, 

 on the Edisto River, where it covers a 

 space 300 or 400 yards in width, and 

 two or three miles long, which appears 

 to have been a sand-bank formed by 

 some of the ancient freshets of the 

 river, and on which only a few stunted 

 oaks (Q. Catesbae'i and Q. nigra) are found intermingled with it. Ac- 

 cording to Pursh, it is also found in the gravelly dry soil of Georgia and 

 Florida; and, in great plenty, on the islands at the mouth of St. Mary's River. 

 It was introduced in 1826. 



2379 



2380 



CHAP. CXV. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS BELONGING TO THE ORDER 

 SMILA V CE^. 



illlW 



Identification. Lindl. Nat. Syst. Bot., p. 359. 



Synonymes. Liliaceas, in part, Juss. Gen., 48. ; Sarmentacea?, in part, Nees Von Esenbeck Gen. PI. ; 



Smilacea?, in part, R. Brown Prod., p. 292,. Lindl. Synops., p. 270 , Bart. Ord. Nat., p. 52. 

 Derivation. From Smilax, a beautiful youth, fabled to have been changed into this plant (see Ovid 



Met.) ; or, according to others, from smile, a scraper, from the roughness of the stems of most of 



the species. 



General Characteristics, fyc. Monocotyledonous. Flowers hermaphrodite or 

 dioecious. Calyx and corolla confounded, inferior, 6-parted. Stamens 6, 

 inserted into the perianth near the base ; seldom hypogynous. Ovary 3- 

 celled; the cells 1- or many-seeded. Style trifid. Stigmas 3. Fruit a 

 roundish berry. Albumen between fleshy and cartilaginous. Embryo 

 usually distant from the hilum. {Lindl. in Nat. Syst. of Bot.) Small climbing 

 shrubs, with woody stems, and reticulated leaves, though they are con- 

 sidered as monocotyledonous plants. This order is nearly allied to L\\i- 

 aceae, of which it was formerly considered to form a part. The plants 

 composing it are found in small quantities in most parts of the world ; but 

 the only ligneous plants which it contains belong to the genus tfmilax. 



