DICTYOGENOUS PLANTS. . 323 
of veins, bearing small green flowers in clusters; the calyx and 
corolla, taken together, consist of six small equal segments, or female 
flowers, which stand at the top of the ovary—the male flowers 
having six stamens, the females three styles. The seed-vessel is a 
thin compressed three-winged capsule, containing one or two 
membranous seeds. 
‘The tubers of D. alatea are oblong, brown externally, white 
inside. Natives of the West Indies, they grow freely in the 
East Indies. They perish if left . 
in the ground after the first year, 
having first produced the young 
tuber which is to replace them. 
Besides the tuber, they throw out 
fibrous roots, which spring chiefly 
from about the union of the stem 
with the tuber, spreading in all 
directions. The stems are fur- 
nished with four crested leafy 
Wings, twining round trees and 
bushes, often bearing prickles 
near the ground. 
The Smumace®, a small order, 
consist of the Smilax, or Sar- 
saparilla, and Ripogonum; the 
former evergreen climbing shrubs 
(Fig. 368), a few of which are 
found in temperate, but the 
Majority in the warmer regions 
of both hemispheres. They are 
: fibrous or tuberous rooted plants, 
with stems often prickly, leaves 
alternate and petiolate, and stipu- 
Ite between the petioles, and - 
Sessile flowers on a globular 
_ Teceptacle. The botanical name : 
Smilax occurs in Greek authors, as Theophrastus and Dioscorides; 
_ but applied to several kinds of plants, as the yew. The only known 
‘“Pecies belonging to the ~~ order was Smilax aspera, 4 
a Y 
Fig. 368.—Leaf and stalk of Smilax. 
