378 
LILIACEA5. 
[Asparagus. 
2. A. racemosus, Willd. ; Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. xiv. 623. A 
climbing shrub, with slender terete woody stems. Leaves of main 
stems produced at the base into a distinct spine in. long. Cla- 
dodes 3-6 in axillary clusters, falcate, angular or slightly com- 
pressed, \— f- in. long. Flowers in dense racemes 1-2 in. long from 
the xiodes of the main branches, white, -§• in. long, on pedicels as long 
as themselves, which are articulated at the middle. Anthers very 
small, globose, red. Ovules several in a cell. 
Rodriguez, Dr. Balfour ! There is a specimen from Mauritius from Bojer in the 
Kew herbarium, but in Hort. Maur., it is disclaimed as native. It is spread 
through from the tropics from North Australia to Angola. 
There are two other species in a state too incomplete for determination in 
Dr. Balfour’s Rodriguez collection. 
Order XCVI1I. SMILACEJE. 
Flowers polygamo-dioicous, rarely hermaphrodite, arranged in 
umbels, rarely in racemes. Perianth inferior, subcorolline, with 
6 subequal oblanceolate segments, Stamens 6, hypogynous ; fila- 
ments subulate ; anthers basifixed. Ovary sessile, free, surrounded 
by rudimentary stamens ; cells 3 ; ovules solitary or geminate, 
orthotropous ; stigmas 3, short. Fruit a berry, often 1-eelled and 
1-seeded by abortion. — Climbing shrubs, often prickly, with simple 
leaves with reticulated venation and a pair of stipulary tendrils, the 
small flowers arranged in simple or panicled racemes, the pedicels 
articulated at the base into a hollow of the receptacle like a ball into 
its socket. Distrib. Tropical and warm temperate regions of both 
hemispheres. Species 150. 
1. SMILAX, Linn. 
Flowers umbellate, polygamo-dioicous. — Habit and distribution as 
in the order. 
1. S. anceps. Willd. ; Kunth, Enum.\. 244. An unarmed climbing 
glabrous shrub. Young branches acutely tetragonous, old terete, both 
zigzag. Leaves ovate, slightly cordate, obtuse or subacute, rigidly 
coriaceous, 3-5 in. long, 5-nerved from the base, with raised reticu- 
lated veinlets between the main ribs ; petiole under an inch long, 
channelled at the base and giving out at the top of the wing a pair of 
long firm spiral tendrils. Peduncles simple, axillary, rather longer 
than the petioles, jointed at the middle. Umbels 30-60-flowered, the 
flower-pedicels i-J in., and those of the fruit nearly an inch long. 
Perianth ^ in. long, with oblanceolate segments. Stamens nearly as 
long as the perianth. Berry the size of a large pea. 
Var. semiamplexicattlis, Bojer, Hort. Maur. 353 (sp.) Stems more 
slender. Leaves smaller, more deeply cordate, more rigid in texture, 
