DIOSCORIDEiE. 



841 



In meadows, in central and southern 

 Europe, extending eastward to the Cau- 

 casus, and northward rather further 

 than the Snotvdrop. Occurs in several 

 of the south-eastern counties of Eng- 

 land, with more probability of being 

 really indigenous than in the case of the 

 Snowdrop, and less frequently cultivated. 

 Fl. spring, rather late. 





Fig. 1013. 



LXXXIII. THE YAM FAMILY. DIOSCOBIDEiE. 



Climbing plants, with tuberous or woody rootsiocks, alternate 

 leaves with netted veins between the ribs, and small, unisexual 

 flowers. Perianth of 6 divisions. Stamens in the males 6. Ovary 

 in the females inferior, 3-celled, with 1 to 3 ovules in each cell. 

 Styles or stigmas 3. Seeds with a minute embryo in a hard al- 

 bumen. 



An Order consisting of but very few genera, but with a considerable 

 number of species, dispersed over the warmer regions of the globe. 

 They include the cultivated Yams, and several South African and 

 Mexican plants introduced into our greenhouses as curiosities on ac- 

 count of their massive woody rootstocks, contrasted with the slender, 

 climbing, annual stems. 



I. TAMUS. TAMUS. 



A single or perhaps two species, distinguished as a genus in the 

 Order by the fruit, which is a berry, not a dry capsule. 



1. Common Tamus. Tamus communis, Linn. (Eig. 1014.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 91. Black Bryony.) 

 An elegant climber, twining to a considerable length over hedges 



YO.L. II. 



2 D 



