LILY FAMILY. Liliacese. 



LILY FAMILY. Liliacece. 



Mostly perennial herbs with a flower-cup of generally 

 six parts remarkable for its simplicity and beauty. 

 Flowers with six stamens each of which stands before 

 one of the divisions. In the case of Allium the flowers 

 spring from a spathe or leafy inclosure, like the flowers 

 of most of the species already described. 

 Carrion Flower The light green veiny-corrugated leaves 

 Smilax are mostly round-ovate and heart-shaped 



aranT'ellow at the baSe ' P mted at the ti ?' and dev id 

 May July W of S los8 tneir stems greatly varying in 



length, measuring ^-3 inches ; with a ten- 

 dril at either side. The long flower-stem, proceeding 

 from between the tendrils, is topped by a hemispherical 

 flower-cluster with spokelike stemlets. The greenish- 

 yellow flowers are insignificant and putrid-odored ; they 

 are staminate and pistillate on separate plants, thus show- 

 ing their dependence upon insects for fertilization, par- 

 ticularly upon those flies which are attracted by carrion. 

 The cluster of berries is first green and finally blue-black 

 with a bloom. It is, indeed, a beautiful and decorative 

 vine, most unfortunate in the repellent odor of its flow- 

 ers at the time of bloom. It is very variable, grows to a 

 length of 4-15 feet, and frequents river banks and thickets. 

 Common from the coast west to Dak. and Neb. 

 Green Brier ^-^e slightly zigzag stem and branches, 



Smilax the latter more or less squarish, are cov- 



rotundifolia ered with scattered prickles, and the 

 Light green broadly ovate, short-stemmed, light green 

 May-June J 



leaves are 2-3 inches long and pointed. 



The leaf -stalk is bent upward at a right angle ; in the 

 angle are the slender tendrils. The flower-stalk bears 

 fewer flowers than that of the preceding species. The 

 berries are blue-black. It is common in most thickets, 

 and closely connects with a western form, var. quadran- 

 gularis, the branches of which are quite perceptibly 

 square. Common from the coast west to Minn, and 

 Tex. It is a familiar vine on Long Island, N. Y., and 

 at North Easton, Mass., but it is not found in the moun- 

 tain region of N. H. 



