Botanical Name - Liliaceae

----- LILIACEAE, F. B. I. VI - 299.

----- Perennial herbs, rarely shrubby or subarboreous, with fibrous roots or creeping rootstocks, bulbs or corms. Leaves various. Flowersi usually bisexual. Perianth6-merous in 2 series, imbricate in bud. Stamens as a rule 6. Ovary 3-celled; style 1, often long; ovules 2 or more in the inner angle of the cells. Fruit a 3-rarely 1-celled, 1-or more-seeded capsule or berry.

----- This large Family contains generally herbs, with fibrous roots, or creeping rootstocks, bulbs or corms, and is well-known for the handsome and fragrant flowers produced by many of the species. Of cultivated plants, the Onion. Allium cepa, Linn., and the garlic, A. sativum, Linn., are considerable economic importance. The following two Genera, occurring in the forests, contain more or less woody plants.

----- Shrubs, Stem climbing. Leaves 3-5 nerved and reticulately veined petiole often cirrhiferous.

----- Flowers small, in umbels. -------------------------------- (1) SMILAX.

----- Stem erect or climbing. Leaves replaced by usually linear or acicular cladodes. Flowers small , solitary, fascicled or --- ----- racemed. ------------------------------------------------ (2) ASPARAGUS.