LILY FAMILY 



485 



Section IV. MelanthAcejE. — Colchicum Tribe 

 Not bulbous ; leaves mostly radical ; fruit mostly capsular 



17. C6lchicum. — Stem a corm; perianth with a very long 

 tube. 



18. Narthecium.— Stem prostrate, creeping; flowers in a 

 raceme ; perianth of 6 free, spreading leaves, golden-yellow, per- 

 sistent ; style 1 ; cap- 

 sule 3 -chambered. 



19. Tofieldia. — 

 Stem a short rhi- 

 zome ; flowers in a 

 raceme, small, green- 

 ish-yellow ; perianth- 

 leaves 6, free, spread- 

 ing, persistent; styles 

 3 ; fruit of 3 follicles. 



20. Paris. — Rhi- 

 zome stout ; stem 

 erect, simple, bear- 

 ing 4 whorled 

 leaves ; flower soli- 

 tary, terminal, green, 

 generally 4-merous ; 

 fruit berry-like. 



1. Ri5 scus 

 (Butcher's Broom). 

 — Shrubs with stout, 

 creeping rhizomes ; 

 woody, branched 

 stems bearing flat- 

 tened, leaf-like, ever- 

 green branches or 

 " cladodes " in the 

 axils of minute, 

 scale-like, deciduous leaves ; flowers dioecious ; perianth deeply 

 6-cleft, green, persistent ; filaments united into a tube ; fruit berry- 

 like, 1 -chambered, 1 — 2-seeded. (Name said to be from bruscus, 

 a word of Keltic origin.) 



1. 7?. aculedtus (Butcher's Broom, Knee-Holly). — The only 

 British species, and only British shrubby Monocotyledon, 3 — 4 

 feet high, with erect, dark green stems ; ovate, dark green, flat- 



r6scus aculeatus {Butcher' 



Holly). 



