CIY. LILIACEJE 
521 
Climbing shrubs; rootstock creeping, often thick. Leaves 
alternate, entire or rarely toothed, usually 3- or 5-nerved from 
the base, veins netted ; stalks more or less sheathing, usually 
tendril-bearing and disarticulating above the tendrils. Flowers 
small, 1-sexual, in umbels, the male and female on different 
plants ; umbels solitary or in spikes. Perianth-segments 6, 
free, narrow. Male flowers : stamens 6, at the base of the 
segments. Female flowers : staminodes 3 or 6 ; ovary 3-celled, 
stigmas 3, sessile, recurved, ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Berry 
globose ; seeds usually 2, sometimes 1, rarely 3. 
The leaves of Smilax resemble those of Dioscorea but the flowers are in 
umbels and the fruit is a berry and superior. 
The drug Sarsaparilla is prepared from the roots of several species of 
Smilax. 
Umbels solitary. Flowers purple. 
Leaf-stalks tendril-bearing. Umbels bracteate . . .1. S. par vi folia. 
Leaf-stalks without tendrils. Umbels without bracts . 2. S. vaginata. 
Umbels in spikes. Flowers white . . . . . . 3. S. aspera. 
1. Smilax parvifolia, Wall. ; FI. Br. Ind. vi. 304. Branches 
round, smooth, unarmed, often zigzag, the younger ones grooved. 
Leaves broadly lanceolate, 2J-3f x 1J-1J in., cordate, usually 
long-pointed, glaucous on the lower surface, nerves 3 or 5, some- 
times 7, sheaths of the leaf- stalks bearing a pair of tendrils at the 
top. Umbels axillary, solitary, stalked. Bracts numerous, small, 
lanceolate. Flowers minute, purple. Male flowers : stamens 
much shorter than the perianth. Female flowers : staminodes 3. 
Berry J in. diam., blue-black. 
Simla, common ; May. — Temperate Himalaya. 
The Simla form is typical S. glaucophylla, Klotzsch, reduced to S. parvi- 
folia, Wall, in the FI. Br. Ind. It is common in the N. W. Himalaya and 
Kashmir. Wallich’s type has much smaller leaves, green on both sides, and is 
not recorded west of Sikkim. 
There is also a variety common in the neighbourhood of Simla, which may 
conveniently be distinguished as angustifolia. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 
l|-3f x ^-| in., tapering to an acute point from a rounded base. 
2. Smilax vaginata, Decne. ; FI. Br. Ind. vi. 305. Branches 
round, smooth, unarmed, often mottled. Leaves without tendrils, 
ovate, 2J x 1^ in., or nearly orbicular, 2J x 2^ in., generally more 
nearly round on female plants, lower surface pale, tip shortly and 
often abruptly pointed, base slightly cordate or rounded, main 
nerves usually 3, sometimes 5, blade often aborted. Umbels 
axillary, solitary, stalked. Bracts none. Flowers minute, purple. 
Male flowers : stamens much shorter than the perianth. Female 
flowers : staminodes 6. Berry ^ in. diam., blue-black. 
Simla, on Jako, Mahasu, Narkunda ; May. — W. Himalaya, Assam. 
3. Smilax aspera, Linn . ; FI. Br. Ind. vi. 306. Branches grooved, 
zigzag, more or less prickly. Leaves linear-lanceolate, ovate- 
lanceolate or orbicular, 3 4 x 1-3 in., margins entire or sometimes 
