25 10
ARBORETUM ANI) FRUTICETUM.
PART III.
Genus I.
.S’MI'LAX L. The Smilax. Lin. Syst. Dioe'cia Hexandria.
Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 1120.; Reich., No. 1225.; Schreb., No. 1528.; Tourn., t. 421.; Juss.,42.; G£ertn.,t. 16. ; Mart. Mill.
Description, §c. Evergreen shrubs, climbing by means of their tendrils,with stems that are generally prickly. Leaves with veiny disks. The ten-drils are intrapetiolar stipules. Natives of Europe and North America. InBritish gardens, they grow in sandy loam, and are readily propagated by divi-sion of the root. They are not showy, but they are interesting from theirtwining character, as being generally evergreens, and as being some of the fewhardy ligneous plants which belong to the grand division of vegetables Mono-cotyledoneae. The species being little cultivated, and many of those whichare being seldom seen in flower, are very imperfectly known by cultivators.The greatest number of species are at Messrs. Loddiges’s, in the BotanicGarden at Twickenham, and at Kew. Plants, in the London nurseries, arefrom 2s. to 5s. each, according to the scarcity of the species.
The following fungi are found upon the North American species: — Sphse'riasmilaclcola Schwein, S. erumpens Schwein, Rhytisma Smilacis Schwein, chieflyon S. /aurifolia and S. rotundifolia ; Hysterium Mnilacis Sclnvein, on S. rotundi-folia ; Cladosporium .Smilacis Fr., t/redo .Smilacis Schwein, /Ecidium .SmilacisSchwein. — M. J. B.
§ i. Stems prickly and atigular.
6- 1. S. a'spera L. The rough Smilax.
Identification. Lin. Sp., 1458.; Gron. Orient., 316.; Scop. Carn., No. 1221.; Gouan Hort. Monap.,505. ; Vill. Dauph., 3. p. 272. ; Mart. Mill., No. 1. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836.
Synonymes. Rough Bindweed; Smilax, Fr. and Ger.
Engravings. Schk. Han., 3. 328.; and out fig. 2381.
Spec. Char., §c. Stem prickly, angular; leaves toothed and prickly, cordate,9-nerved. ( Willd .) A native of the south of Europe, Asia Minor, andAfrica. Cultivated in the Oxford Botanic Garden in 1648.
Variety.
A S. a. 2 auriculdta Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. iii. p. 401., has the leaves ear-shaped at the base.
Description, §c. An evergreen climbing shrub, with numerous slender an-gular stems, armed with short crooked spines, and having tendrils on theirsides, by which they fasten themselves to any neighbour-ing object for support. The roots are thick and fleshy,
“ spreading wide, and striking deep.” The leaves arerather large, and heart-shaped; somewhat stiff, of adark green, marked with 5 longitudinal nerves, and witha few short reddish spines round their margins. Theflowers are axillary, on shortibranches,small and whitish ;and those on the female plants are succeeded by berries,which are sometimes red and sometimes black. It is anative of the south of France, Italy, Spain, and Carniola;and it has also been found near Tripoli, and betweenRama and Joppa. It is stated, in Martyn’s Miller, tohave been introduced by Mr. John Tradescant, in 1656 ;but the Hortus Kewensis informs us that it was cultivated in the OxfordBotanic Garden before 1648. The roots are sometimes sold by the druggists