HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Convallaria. 433 
(Crown of the root scaly, as are the annual, hollow stems , about a foot 
high. Flowers axillary, drooping, small, forming a terminal spike. E.) 
Stems herbaceous, upright, panicled. Leaf-scales the outer solitary, with 
two smaller ones within, from between which rise three, and sometimes 
four or five strap-shaped leaves. This is the case in the upper part of the 
branches where there are no flowers, but in the lower part a small branch 
rises in their stead. Fruit-stalks in pairs, limber, jointed, bearing one 
flower, pendent. Blossom bell-shaped; inner petals longer. Linn- Seeds 
from one to three. Blossom yellowish green. Berries red, as large as 
currants. (Barren and fertile flowers sometimes on distinct plants. 
Few vegetable productions make a more elegant appearance than the full 
grown Asparagus, with its ripe berries. E.) 
(Rev. Hugh Davies describes a var. whose foliage is “ invariably procum¬ 
bent.” E.) 
Asparagus, corruptly Sparrow-grass. Sperage. (Welsh: Gwillon; 
Merllys cyffredin. E.) Meadows and rocks on the sea coast. Graves¬ 
end ; and in marshes below Cook’s Folly, two miles from Bristol; 
about Harwich and Greenwich. Ray. Isle of Portland. Hudson. In 
the salt marshes below King’s Weston, near Bristol. Stokes. Mullion 
Island, near the Lizard Point, (and hence the largest pyramidal mass of 
Serpentine rock, in Kynance Cove, is called Asparagus Island. Guide. 
On a sandy hillock below Llanfaelog, Anglesey. Welsh. Bot. Links 
near Gosford. Mr. E. Maughan. Grev. Edin. On the Chesil Bank, and 
about Poole Harbour. Pulteney. Fens of.Lincolnshire. Miller. E.) 
P. July.* 
CONVALLA'RIA.f Bloss. six-cleft, deciduous : Berry three- 
celled : Summit triangular. E.) 
(1) Blossoms bell-shaped. 
C. maia'lis. (Stalks naked, on short peduncles, semi-cylindrical: 
flowers in a spike, nutant: leaves two. E.) 
Curt. 302 —(j E. Bot. 1035— Abbot. FI. Bed. p. 76. E.)— Ludw. 87— Kniph. 
10— Blackw. 70— Kniph. i.— Matth. 875— Sheldr. 25— Fl.JDan.854> — Ger. 
331. 2— Pet. 44. 7— Park. 251. 1— H. Ox. xiii. 4. 1— Ger. Em. 410. 2— 
Bod. 205. 1— Lob. Obs. 87. 1— Ger. Em. 410. 1— Wale. — Ger. 331. 1— 
Fuchs. 241— J. B. iii. 531. 3 —Trag. 572— Louie, i. 183. 2. 
(Leaves elliptical, generally two, radical, three or four inches long, ribbed, 
stalked. Flowers nine to twelve, unilateral. Fruit-stalks arched. 
Flower-scales , one at the base of each fruit-stalk, spear-shaped, mem¬ 
branous. Blossom contracted at the mouth; segments reflexed at the 
edge. Berries red, (as large as currants; but where the roots are 
allowed to spread, as in native spots, rarely perfected. E.) Blossom 
white; highly fragrant. Scape four to six inches long, slender, semicylin- 
drical. E.) 
* The young shoots of this plant, in its cultivated state, are universally esteemed for 
their flavour and nutritious qualities. (The varieties called Gravesend, Battersea, &c. are 
produced by the difference of soil and manure. A very thick and gigantic bind, but 
equally agreeable to the palate, has lately been introduced from Switzerland. E.) They 
impart to water a strong odour. A peculiar species of Chrysomela, named after the 
plant, lives upon it. 
t (Generally supposed to be so called from its growing in valleys ; though such a 
designation is far from peculiarly appropriate. E.) 
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