Pl.end.ph . 17. SMILACEAL 126. Ruscus. 189 
IV. 126. RUSCUS. Castor. Butchers -broom. 
Perigonium 6-parted, expanding ; androphore cylindrical, 
tubular ; female naked, male with 6 sessile anthers ; style 1 ; 
stigma 1, obtuse; ovary free, 3-celled; berry globose; seeds 
1 or 2 in each cell, ovate ; corculum rather straight, not half 
as long as the perisperm, opposite the hilum. — Root branchy, 
perennial ; herb very stiff, evergreen, very much branched ; 
leaves (leaflike peduncles?) ribbed, alternate, sessile, pun- 
gent, flower-bearing; flowers sessile, white, dioicous or 
unisexual. 
Ruscus aculeatus. Prickly butchers-broom. 
Stem stiff ; leaves mucronate, pungent ; flowers on the 
upper surface of the leaves, naked. 
Ruscus, Rail Syn. 262, 1 ; Park. 253. 
Ruscus sive Bruscus, Ger. em. 907. 
Ruscus aculeatus, Lin. S. P. 1474. 
Knee holme. Pettigree. Kneehulver. Knee holly. 
Woods and heaths ; perennial ; March and April. 
Herb biennial, upright, smooth; leaves sessile, not notched, 
dark green ; floivers white; androphore violet, yellow at top. 
— Root aperitive. 
&. laxus. Leaves elliptical, narrow at both ends ; branches 
loose. 
Ruscus laxus, Smith T. L-. S. 3, 334. 
Fam. XIII. 18. TAMACEAL 
Flowers dioicous; perigonium adherent, petaloid, 6-se- 
paled, bellshape ; sepales contracted at the orifice ; stamens 6, 
at the base of the sepales ; ovary 3-celled ; ovules 2 in each 
cell; style 1 ; stigmata 3, acute, 2-cut; berry 3-celled; seeds 
few, ovate ; spermodermis membranaceous. 
I. 127. TAMUS. Gesner. Black-briony. 
Perigonium bellshaped, spreading in the male flowers, 
contracted in the female, above the ovary ; style 1 ; stig- 
mata 3 ; berry 3-celled. — Root fleshy, tuberous, perennial ; 
stem annual, climbing, twisting to the left ; leaves alternate, 
petiolate, ribbed ; stipula 2, small, at the base of the pe- 
duncle, reflexed; flowers racemose, axillary. 
