458 THE LILY FAMILY. [ Maianthemum. 
V. ASPARAGUS. ASPARAGUS, 
Herbs, with a creeping, matted rootstock, and annual branching stems, — 
with clusters of fine, short, subulate leaves (theoreticaly shown to be short 
branches), surrounded by short scarious scales (theoretically considered to 
be leaves). Flowers small, axillary. Perianth of 6 distinct segments. Sta- 
mens 6, Ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell. Styles single, with a 
3-lobed stigma. Fruit a berry. 
A considerable genus, chiefly African, with a few south European or 
Asiatic species, all readily known by the foliage. 
1. 4. officinalis, Linn. (fig. 1033). Common Asparagus.—Stems 
erect and much branched, usually 1 to 2 feet high in the wild state, attain- 
. ing 4 or 5 feet when cultivated, and elegantly feathered by the numerous 
clusters of fine subulate leaves, about half an inch long. Flowers small, of 
a greenish white, hanging on slender pedicels, 2 or 3 together in the axils 
of the principal branches, many of them with stamens only. Berries small, ~ 
red, and globular. 
In maritime sands, or in sandy plains, in central and western Asia, all 
round the Mediterranean, and up the western coasts of Europe to the 
English Channel. In Britain, confined to the western and south-western 
shores of England, and to the coast of Wexford and Waterford, in Ireland, 
fl. summer. 
VI. RUSCUS. RUSCUS. 
Shrub-like herbs, with a perennial rootstock, hard, green, branching 
stems, and alternate, stiff, evergreen, parallel-veined leaves (theoretically 
shown to be short leaf-like branches), with minute, often microscopical 
scales (the real leaves) underneath them. Flowers small, mostly unisexual, 
apparently sessile on the middle of the leaf. Perianth of 6 distinct seg- 
ments. Stamens united in a tube, with 3 or 6 anthers. Ovary 3-celled, 
with 2 ovules in each cell. Style simple, with an undivided stigma. Fruit 
a berry. 
_ A small European and North African genus, easily known among Euro- 
pean Monocotyledons by its stiff, shrub-like habit. 
1. R. aculeatus, Linn. (fig. 1034). Common Ruscus, Butcher's 
Broom.—A rigid, dark green, much branched plant, 2 to 3 feet high; the 
stems said to be biennial, although apparently shrubby. Leaves numerous, 
ovate, all terminating in a prickly point. Flowers small and white, 
apparently sessile in the middle of what is really the upper surface of the 
leaf, though it is usually turned downwards by a twist of the leaf at its 
base; and a close examination will show that the flower is in fact borne on 
a pedicel arising from the axil of the leaf and closely adnate to the surface, 
with a minute bract under the flower. * Berries red. : 
In woods and bushy places, in west central and southern Europe, ex- 
tending eastward to the Caucasus and northward to Belgium, but not into 
Germany. Abundant in some of the southern counties of England, but not 
truly wild in northern England, Scotland, or Ireland. fF. spring. 
VII. FRITILLARIA, FRITILLARY. 
Bulbous herbs, with a leafy stem, and one or more rather long, drooping 
