AMARYLLIDACEAE 
181 
at first with 3 or 5 dark brown longitudinal stripes, later red-purple.— 
Shady woods. (S. sessilifolia Nutt.) 
2. S. amplexicaulis Nutt. Fat Solomon. Stem 2.8 to 8.6 dm. high; 
leaves oblong-ovate to lanceolate; flowers in a panicle; perianth-segments 
much shorter than the broad filaments; berry light red.—Shady woods. 
13. DISPORUM Salisb. 
Stem from a rootstock, branched above and leafy. Leaves ovate, ses¬ 
sile, transversely veined between the primary nerves. Flowers greenish 
or white, campanulate, solitary or few in a terminal cluster, hanging 
under the leaves. Fruit a berry. (Greek dis, double, and spora, seed, 
some species with 2 ovules in each cell.) 
1. D. hookeri (Torr.) Britt. Fairy Bells. Plants 2.8 to 7 dm. 
high ; herbage roughish-pubescent; leaves mostly cordate at base; perianth 
greenish, 1.2 cm. long, the tips of the segments spreading: stamens 
equaling or exceeding perianth; style glabrous, entire; berry scarlet.— 
Shady woods near the coast. 
2. D. smithii (Hook.) Piper. Fairy Lantern. Plants 2.8 to 8.6 dm. 
high; leaves mostl)*' rounded or sub-cordate at base; perianth whitish, 
1.8 to 2.4 cm. long, the tips of the segments erect; stamen shorter than 
the perianth; style short-hairy, slightly 3-cleft; berry salmon-color.— 
Stream banks near the coast. 
14. ASPARAGUS L. 
Stem from a rootstock, branched and with filiform branchlets clustered 
in the axils of the scaly leaves. Flowers solitary or in umbels or ra¬ 
cemes. Perianth-segments alike; stamens inserted at their bases. Ovary 
3-celled with 2 ovules in each cell. Fruit a berry. (Ancient Greek 
name.) 
1. A. offininalis L. Asparagus. Stems 8.6 to 14 dm. high, when 
young stout, succulent and edible; clustered branchlets 8 to 16 mm. long; 
flowers green, pendulous; berry red.—Cult, from Eur. Extensively grown 
on delta lands in Cal. 
AMARYLLIDACEAE. AMARYLLIS FAMILY 
Herbs or shrubs unlike Liliaceae in habit but similar to them in char¬ 
acter save that the flower is epigynous.—Species about 650, chiefly natives 
of South Africa and South America. 
1. AGAVE L. Maguey 
Plants with a perennial rosette of fleshy leaves resting on the ground. 
Flowering stem arising after 10 to 40 years, depending upon situation, 
soil and moisture. (Greek agauos, noble.) 
1. A. americana L. Century Plant. Flowering stem 3 to 5 m. 
high.—Cult, from Mexico. Just before flowering a plant will yield 1 or 
2 "gallons a day of saccharine juice; from this is made pulque, the 
national intoxicant of Mexico. 
IRIDACEAE. IRIS FAMILY 
Low perennial herbs with stout stems from rootstocks and mostly 
basal 2-ranked sword-like and sheathing leaves. Flowers with petal-like 
