522 
CIV. LILIACEiE 
with prickly teeth, base round or cordate, or the basal lobes pro- 
jecting and rounded; stalks short, usually prickly, bearing near the 
base a pair of long, slender tendrils. Umbels numerous, in axillary 
and terminal spikes 1-6 in. long. Bracts minute. Flowers small, 
white, fragrant. Male flowers : stamens § the length of the 
perianth. Female flowers rather smaller than the male : stami- 
nodes 6. Berry 1—1 in. diam., red at first, blue-black when ripe. 
(Fig. 175.) 
Simla, the Glen, common below 6000 ft. ; September-November. — Hilly 
regions throughout India. — N. Africa, S. Europe. 
The Simla plant is var. maculata of A. He Candolle’s Monogr. Smilax, 163. 
2. ASPARAGUS. From the Greek sparasso, to tear, referring 
to the spines of some species. — Europe, Asia, Africa. 
Erect or climbing, often straggling, much-branched, prickly or 
unarmed shrubs or herbs ; rootstock thick, creeping, with cylindrical, 
fleshy branches or sometimes tuberous. Leaves reduced to minute, 
sometimes spinescent scales bearing in their axils tufts of unequal, 
needle-like branchlets or cladodes having the appearance of linear 
leaves. Flowers axillary, small, white, drooping, usually 2-sexual, 
solitary or in clusters or racemes, the stalks jointed near the 
middle. Perianth bell-shaped, 6-parted. Stamens 6, at the base 
of the segments. Ovary 3-celled ; style single, stigmas 3 ; ovules 
usually 2 in each cell. Berry globose, about \ in. diam., usually 
red when ripe ; seeds 2-6, black. - - 
