Chapter 10

See Combes,J. L. Ligonier, une étude(Castres, 1866), and the histories of the 7th Dragoon Guards and Grenadier Guards.

See Combes,J. L. Ligonier, une étude(Castres, 1866), and the histories of the 7th Dragoon Guards and Grenadier Guards.

LIGUORI, ALFONSO MARIA DEI(1696-1787), saint and doctor of the Church of Rome, was born at Marianella, near Naples, on the 27th of September 1696, being the son of Giuseppe dei Liguori, a Neapolitan noble. He began life at the bar, where he obtained considerable practice; but the loss of an important suit, in which he was counsel for a Neapolitan noble against the grand duke of Tuscany, and in which he had entirely mistaken the force of a leading document, so mortified him that he withdrew from the legal world. In 1726 he entered the Congregation of Missions as a novice, and became a priest in 1726. In 1732 he founded the “Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer” at Scala, near Salerno; the headquarters of the Order were afterwards transferred to Nocera dei Pagani. Its members, popularly called Liguorians or Redemptorists, devote themselves to the religious instruction of the poor, more especially in country districts; Liguori specially forbade them to undertake secular educational work. In 1750 appeared his celebrated devotional book on theGlories of Mary; three years later came his still more celebrated treatise on moral theology. In 1755 this was much enlarged and translated into Latin under the title ofHomo Apostolicus. In 1762, at the express desire of the pope, he accepted the bishopric of Sant’ Agata dei Goti, a small town in the province of Benevent; though he had previously refused the archbishopric of Palermo. Here he worked diligently at practical reforms, being specially anxious to raise the standard of clerical life and work. In 1775 he resigned his bishopric on the plea of enfeebled health; he retired to his Redemptorists at Nocera, and died there in 1787. In 1796 Pius VI. declared him “venerable”; he was beatified by Pius VII. in 1816, canonized by Gregory XVI. in 1839, and finally declared one of the nineteen “Doctors of the Church” by Pius IX. in 1871.

Liguori is the chief representative of a school of casuistry and devotional theology still abundantly represented within the Roman Church. Not that he was in any sense its founder. He was simply a fair representative of the Italian piety of his day—amiable, ascetic in his personal habits, indefatigable in many forms of activity, and of more than respectable abilities; though the emotional side of his character had the predominance over his intellect. He was learned, as learning was understood among the Italian clergy of the 18th century; but he was destitute of critical faculty, and the inaccuracy of his quotations is proverbial. In his casuistical works he was a diligent compiler, whose avowed design was to take a middle course between the two current extremes of severity and laxity. In practice, he leant constantly towards laxity. Eighteenth-century Italy looked on religion with apathetic indifference, and Liguori convinced himself that only the gentlest and most lenient treatment could win back the alienated laity; hence he was always willing to excuse errors on the side of laxity as due to an excess of zeal in winning over penitents. Severity, on the other hand, seemed to him not only inexpedient, but positively wrong. By making religion hard it made it odious, and thus prepared the way for unbelief. Like all casuists, he took for granted that morality was a recondite science, beyond the reach of all but the learned. When a layman found himself in doubt, his duty was not to consult his conscience, but to take the advice of his confessor; while the confessor himself was bound to follow the rules laid down by the casuistical experts, who delivered themselves of a kind of “counsel’s opinion” on all knotty points of practical morality. But experts proverbially differ: what was to be done when they disagreed? Suppose, for instance, that some casuists held it wrong to dance on Sunday, while others held it perfectly lawful. In Liguori’s time there were four ways of answering the question. Strict moralists—called rigorists, or “tutiorists”—maintained that the austerer opinion ought always to be followed; dancing on Sundays was certainly wrong, if any good authorities had declared it to be so. Probabiliorists maintained that the more general opinion ought to prevail, irrespectively of whether it was the stricter or the laxer; dancing on Sunday was perfectly lawful, if the majority of casuists approved it. Probabilists argued that any opinion might be followed, if it could show good authority on its side, even if there was still better authority against it; dancing on Sunday must be innocent, if it could show a fair sprinkling of eminent names in its favour. The fourth and last school—the “laxists”—carried this principle a step farther, and held that a practice must be unobjectionable, if it could prove that any one “grave Doctor” had defended it; even if dancing on Sunday had hitherto lain under the ban of the church, a single casuist could legitimate it by one stroke of his pen. Liguori’s great achievement lay in steering a middle course between these various extremes. The gist of his system, which is known as “equi-probabilism,” is that the more indulgent opinion may always be followed, whenever the authorities in its favour are as good, or nearly as good, as those on the other side. In this way he claimed that he had secured liberty in its rights without allowing it to degenerate into licence. However much they might personally disapprove, zealous priests could not forbid theirparishioners to dance on Sunday, if the practice had won widespread toleration; on the other hand, they could not relax the usual discipline of the church on the strength of a few unguarded opinions of too indulgent casuists. Thus the Liguorian system surpassed all its predecessors in securing uniformity in the confessional on a basis of established usage, two advantages amply sufficient to ensure its speedy general adoption within the Church of Rome.

Livesby A. M. Tannoja, a pupil of Liguori’s (3 vols., Naples, 1798-1802); new ed., Turin, 1857; French trans., Paris, 1842; P. v. A. Giattini (Rome, 1815: Ger. trans., Vienna, 1835); F. W. Faber (4 vols., London, 1848-1849); M. A. Hugues (Münster, 1857); O. Gisler (Einsiedeln, 1887); K. Dilgskron (2 vols., Regensburg, 1887), perhaps the best; A. Capecelatro (2 vols., Rome, 1893); A. des Retours (Paris, 1903); A. C. Berthe (St Louis, 1906).Works(a) Collected editions. Italian: (Monza, 1819, 1828; Venice, 1830; Naples, 1840 ff.; Turin, 1887, ff.). French: (Tournai, 1855 ff., new ed., 1895 ff.) German: (Regensburg, 1842-1847). English: (22 vols., New York, 1887-1895). Editions of theTheologia Moralisand other separate works are very numerous. (b)Letters: (2 vols., Monza, 1831; 3 vols., Rome, 1887 ff.). See also Meyrick,Moral and Devotional Theology of the Church of Rome, according to the Teaching of S. Alfonso de Liguori(London, 1857), and art.Casuistry.

Livesby A. M. Tannoja, a pupil of Liguori’s (3 vols., Naples, 1798-1802); new ed., Turin, 1857; French trans., Paris, 1842; P. v. A. Giattini (Rome, 1815: Ger. trans., Vienna, 1835); F. W. Faber (4 vols., London, 1848-1849); M. A. Hugues (Münster, 1857); O. Gisler (Einsiedeln, 1887); K. Dilgskron (2 vols., Regensburg, 1887), perhaps the best; A. Capecelatro (2 vols., Rome, 1893); A. des Retours (Paris, 1903); A. C. Berthe (St Louis, 1906).

Works(a) Collected editions. Italian: (Monza, 1819, 1828; Venice, 1830; Naples, 1840 ff.; Turin, 1887, ff.). French: (Tournai, 1855 ff., new ed., 1895 ff.) German: (Regensburg, 1842-1847). English: (22 vols., New York, 1887-1895). Editions of theTheologia Moralisand other separate works are very numerous. (b)Letters: (2 vols., Monza, 1831; 3 vols., Rome, 1887 ff.). See also Meyrick,Moral and Devotional Theology of the Church of Rome, according to the Teaching of S. Alfonso de Liguori(London, 1857), and art.Casuistry.

(St. C.)

LIGURES BAEBIANI,in ancient geography, a settlement of Ligurians in Samnium, Italy. The towns of Taurasia and Cisauna in Samnium had been captured in 298B.C.by the consul L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, and the territory of the former remained Roman state domain. In 180B.C.47,000 Ligurians from the neighbourhood of Luna (Ligures Apuani), with women and children, were transferred to this district, and two settlements were formed taking their names from the consuls of 181B.C., the Ligures Baebiani and the Ligures Corneliani. The site of the former town lies 15 m. N. of Beneventum, on the road to Saepinum and Aesernia. In its ruins several inscriptions have been found, notably a large bronze tablet discovered in a public building in the Forum bearing the dateA.D.101, and relating to the alimentary institution founded by Trajan here (seeVeleia). A sum of money was lent to landed proprietors of the district (whose names and estates are specified in the inscription), and the interest which it produced formed the income of the institution, which, on the model of that of Veleia, would have served to support a little over one hundred children. The capital was 401,800 sesterces, and the annual interest probably at 5%,i.e.20,090 sesterces (£4018 and £201 respectively). The site of the other settlement—that of the Ligures Corneliani—is unknown.

See T. Mommsen inCorp. Inscr. Lat.ix. (Berlin, 1883), 125 sqq.

See T. Mommsen inCorp. Inscr. Lat.ix. (Berlin, 1883), 125 sqq.

(T. As.)

LIGURIA,a modern territorial division of Italy, lying between the Ligurian Alps and the Apennines on the N., and the Mediterranean on the S. and extending from the frontier of France on the W. to the Gulf of Spezia on the E. Its northern limits touch Piedmont and Lombardy, while Emilia and Tuscany fringe its eastern borders, the dividing line following as a rule the summits of the mountains. Its area is 2037 sq. m. The railway from Pisa skirts the entire coast of the territory, throwing off lines to Parma from Sarzana and Spezia, to Milan and Turin from Genoa, and to Turin from Savona, and there is a line from Ventimiglia to Cuneo and Turin by the Col di Tenda. Liguria embraces the two provinces of Genoa and Porto Maurizio (Imperia), which once formed the republic of Genoa. Its sparsely-peopled mountains slope gently northward towards the Po, descending, however, abruptly into the sea at several points; the narrow coast district, famous under the name of the Riviera (q.v.), is divided at Genoa into the Riviera di Ponente towards France, and the Riviera di Levante towards the east. Its principal products are wheat, maize, wine, oranges, lemons, fruits, olives and potatoes, though the olive groves are being rapidly supplanted by flower-gardens, which grow flowers for export. Copper and iron pyrites are mined. The principal industries are iron-works, foundries, iron shipbuilding, engineering, and boiler works (Genoa, Spezia, Sampierdarena, Sestri Ponente, &c.), the production of cocoons, and the manufacture of cottons and woollens. Owing to the sheltered situation and the mildness of their climate, many of the coast towns are chosen by thousands of foreigners for winter residence, while the Italians frequent them in summer for sea-bathing. The inhabitants have always been adventurous seamen—Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci were Genoese,—and the coast has several good harbours, Genoa, Spezia and Savona being the best. In educational and general development, Liguria stands high among the regions of Italy. The populations of the respective provinces and their chief towns are, according to the census of 1901 (popolazione residenteorlegale)—province of Genoa, pop. 931,156; number of communes 197; chief towns—Genoa (219,507), Spezia (66,263), Savona (38,648), Sampierdarena (34,084), Sestri Ponente (17,225). Province of Porto Maurizio, pop. 144,604, number of communes 106; chief towns—Porto Maurizio (7207), S. Remo (20,027), Ventimiglia (11,468), Oneglia (8252). Total for Liguria, 1,075,760.

The Ligurian coast became gradually subject to the Romans, and the road along it must have been correspondingly prolonged: up to the end of the Hannibalic war the regular starting-point for Spain by sea was Pisae, in 195B.C.it was the harbour of Luna (Gulf of Spezia),1though Genua must have become Roman a little before this time, while, in 137B.C., C. Hostilius Mancinus marched as far as Portus Herculis (Villafranca), and in 121B.C.the province of Gallia Narbonensis was formed and the coast-road prolonged to the Pyrenees. In 14B.C.Augustus restored the whole road from Placentia to Dertona (Via Postumia), and thence to Vada Sabatia (Via Aemilia[2]) and the River Varus (Var), so that it thenceforth took the name of Via Julia Augusta (seeAemilia, Via[2]). The other chief roads of Liguria were the portion of the Via Postumia from Dertona to Genua, a road from above Vada through Augusta Bagiennorum and Pollentia to Augusta Taurinorum, and another from Augusta Taurinorum to Hasta and Valentia. The names of the villages—Quarto, Quinto, &c.—on the south-east side and Pontedecimo on the north of Genoa allude to their distance along the Roman roads. The Roman Liguria, forming the ninth region of Augustus, was thus far more extensive than the modern, including the country on the north slopes of the Apennines and Maritime Alps between the Trebia and the Po, and extending a little beyond Albintimilium. On the west Augustus formed the provinces of the Alpes Maritimae and the Alpes Cottiae. Towns of importance were few, owing to the nature of the country. Dertona was the only colony, and Alba Pompeia, Augusta Bagiennorum, Pollentia, Hasta, Aquae Statiellae, and Genua may also be mentioned; but the Ligurians dwelt entirely in villages, and were organized as tribes. The mountainous character of Liguria made the spread of culture difficult; it remained a forest district, producing timber, cattle, ponies, mules, sheep, &c. Oil and wine had to be imported, and when the cultivation of the olive began is not known.

The arrangement made by Augustus lasted until the time of Diocletian, when the two Alpine provinces were abolished, and the watershed became the boundary between Italy and Gaul. At this time we find the name Liguria extended as far as Milan, while in the 6th century the old Liguria was separated from it, and under the Lombards formed the fifth Italian province under the name of Alpes Cottiae. In the middle ages the ancient Liguria north of the Apennines fell to Piedmont and Lombardy, while that to the south, with the coast strip, belonged to the republic of Genoa.

(T. As.)

Archaeology and Philology.—It is clear that in earlier times the Ligurians occupied a much more extensive area than the Augustan region; for instance Strabo (i. 2, 92; iv. 1, 7) gives earlier authorities for their possession of the land on which the Greek colony of Massalia (Marseilles) was founded; and Thucydides (vi. 2) speaks of a settlement of Ligurians in Spain who expelled the Sicani thence. Southward their domain extended as far as Pisa on the coast of Etruria and Arretium inland in thetime of Polybius (ii. 6), and a somewhat vague reference in Lycophron (line 1351) to the Ligurians as enemies of the founders of Agylla (i.e.Caere) suggests that they once occupied even a larger tract to the south. Seneca (Cons. ad Helv.vii. 9), states that the population of Corsica was partly Ligurian. By combining traditions recorded by Dionysius (i. 22; xiv. 37) and others (e.g.Serv.ad. Aen.xi. 317) as having been held by Cato the Censor and by Philistus of Syracuse (385B.C.) respectively, Professor Ridgeway (Who were the Romans?London, 1908, p. 3) decides in favour of identifying the Ligurians with a tribe called the Aborigines who occupy a large place in the early traditions of Italy (see Dionysius i. cc. 10 ff.); and who may at all events be regarded with reasonable certainty as constituting an early pre-Roman and pre-Tuscan stratum in the population of Central Italy (seeLatium). For a discussion of this question seeVolsci. Ridgeway holds that the language of the Ligurians, as well as their antiquities, was identical with that of the early Latins, and with that of the Plebeians of Rome (as contrasted with that of the Patrician or Sabine element), seeRome:History(ad. init.). The archaeological side of this important question is difficult. Although great progress has been made with the study of the different strata of remains in prehistoric Italy and of those of Liguria itself (see for instance the excellentIntroduction à l’histoire romaineby Basile Modestov (Paris, 1907, p. 122 ff.) and W. Ridgeway’sEarly Age of Greece, p. 240 ff.) no general agreement has been reached among archaeologists as to the particular races who are to be identified as the authors of the early strata, earlier, that is, than that stratum which represents the Etruscans.

On the linguistic side some fairly certain conclusions have been reached. D’Arbois de Jubainville (Les Premiers habitants de l’Europe, ed. 2, Paris, 1880-1894) pointed out the great frequency of the suffix -asco- (and -usco-) both in ancient and in modern Ligurian districts, and as far north asCaranuscanear Metz, and also in the eastern Alps and in Spain. He pointed out also, what can scarcely be doubted, that the great mass of the Ligurian proper names (e.g.the streamsVinelasca,Porcobera,Comberanea;mons Tuledo;Venascum), have a definite Indo-European character. Farther Karl Müllenhof in vol. iii. of hisDeutsche Alterthumskunde(Berlin, 1898) made a careful collection of the proper names reserved in Latin inscriptions of the Ligurian districts, such as theTabula Genuatium(C.I.L.i. 99) of 117B.C.A complete collection of all Ligurian place and personal names known has been made by S. Elizabeth Jackson, B.A., and the collection is to be combined with the inscriptional remains of the district inThe Pre-Italic Dialects, edited by R. S. Conway (seeThe Proceedings of the British Academy). Following KretschmerKuhn’s Zeitschrift(xxxviii. 97), who discussed several inscriptions found near Ornavasso (Lago Maggiore) and concluded that they showed an Indo-European language, Conway, though holding that the inscriptions are more Celtic than Ligurian, pointed out strong evidence in the ancient place names of Liguria that the language spoken there in the period which preceded the Roman conquest was Indo-European, and belonged to a definite group, namely, languages which preserved the originalqas Latin did, and did not convert it intopas did the Umbro-Safine tribes. The same is probably true of Venetia (seeVeneti), and of an Indo-European language preserved on inscriptions found at Coligny and commonly referred to the Sequani (seeComptes Rendus de l’Ac. d’Insc., Paris, 1897, 703; E. B. Nicholson,Sequanian, London, 1898; Thurneysen,Zeitschr. f. Kelt. Phil., 1899, 523). Typically Ligurian names areQuiamelius, which contains the characteristic Ligurian wordmelo- “stone” as inmons Blustiemelus(C.I.L.v. 7749),Intimeliumand the modernVintimiglia. The tribal namesSoliceli,Stoniceli, clearly contain the same element as Lat.aequi-coli(dwellers on the plain),sati-cola, &c., namelyquel-, cf. Lat.in-quil-inus,colo, Gr.πολεῖν, τέλλεσθαι. And it should be added that the Ligurian ethnica show the prevailing use of the two suffixes -co- and -ati-, which there is reason to refer to the pre-Roman stratum of population in Italy (seeVolsci).

Besides the authorities already cited the student may be referred to C. Pauli,Altitalische Studien, vol. i., especially for the alphabet of the insc.; W. Ridgeway,Who were the Romans?(followed by the abstract of a paper by the present writer) inThe Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. iii. p. 42; and to W. H. Hall’s,The Romans on the Riviera and the Rhône(London, 1898); Issel’sLa Liguria geologica e preistorica(Genoa, 1892). A further batch of Celto-Ligurian inscriptions from Giubiasco near Bellinzona (Canton Ticino) is published by G. Herbig, in theAnzeiger f. Schweizer. Altertumskunde, vii. (1905-1906), p. 187; and one of the same class by Elia Lattes,Di un’ Iscriz. ante-Romana trovata a Carcegna sul Lago d’ Orta(Atti d. r. Accad. d. Scienze di Torino, xxxix., Feb. 1904).

Besides the authorities already cited the student may be referred to C. Pauli,Altitalische Studien, vol. i., especially for the alphabet of the insc.; W. Ridgeway,Who were the Romans?(followed by the abstract of a paper by the present writer) inThe Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. iii. p. 42; and to W. H. Hall’s,The Romans on the Riviera and the Rhône(London, 1898); Issel’sLa Liguria geologica e preistorica(Genoa, 1892). A further batch of Celto-Ligurian inscriptions from Giubiasco near Bellinzona (Canton Ticino) is published by G. Herbig, in theAnzeiger f. Schweizer. Altertumskunde, vii. (1905-1906), p. 187; and one of the same class by Elia Lattes,Di un’ Iscriz. ante-Romana trovata a Carcegna sul Lago d’ Orta(Atti d. r. Accad. d. Scienze di Torino, xxxix., Feb. 1904).

(R. S. C.)

1The dividing line between Liguria and Etruria was the lower course of the river Macra (Magra), so that, while the harbour of Luna was in the former, Luna itself was in the latter.

1The dividing line between Liguria and Etruria was the lower course of the river Macra (Magra), so that, while the harbour of Luna was in the former, Luna itself was in the latter.

LI HUNG CHANG(1823-1901), Chinese statesman, was born on the 16th of February 1823 at Hofei, in Ngan-hui. From his earliest youth he showed marked ability, and when quite young he took his bachelor degree. In 1847 he became a Tsin-shi, or graduate of the highest order, and two years later was admitted into the imperial Hanlin college. Shortly after this the central provinces of the empire were invaded by the Taiping rebels, and in defence of his native district he raised a regiment of militia, with which he did such good service to the imperial cause that he attracted the attention of Tsêng Kuo-fan, the generalissimo in command. In 1859 he was transferred to the province of Fu-kien, where he was given the rank of taotai, or intendant of circuit. But Tsêng had not forgotten him, and at his request Li was recalled to take part against the rebels. He found his cause supported by the “Ever Victorious Army,” which, after having been raised by an American named Ward, was finally placed under the command of Charles George Gordon. With this support Li gained numerous victories leading to the surrender of Suchow and the capture of Nanking. For these exploits he was made governor of Kiangsu, was decorated with a yellow jacket, and was created an earl. An incident connected with the surrender of Suchow, however, left a lasting stain upon his character. By an arrangement with Gordon the rebel wangs, or princes, yielded Nanking on condition that their lives should be spared. In spite of the assurance given them by Gordon, Li ordered their instant execution. This breach of faith so aroused Gordon’s indignation that he seized a rifle, intending to shoot the falsifier of his word, and would have done so had not Li saved himself by flight. On the suppression of the rebellion (1864) Li took up his duties as governor, but was not long allowed to remain in civil life. On the outbreak of the rebellion of the Nienfei, a remnant of the Taipings, in Ho-nan and Shan-tung (1866) he was ordered again to take the field, and after some misadventures he succeeded in suppressing the movement. A year later he was appointed viceroy of Hukwang, where he remained until 1870, when the Tientsin massacre necessitated his transfer to the scene of the outrage. He was, as a natural consequence, appointed to the viceroyalty of the metropolitan province of Chihli, and justified his appointment by the energy with which he suppressed all attempts to keep alive the anti-foreign sentiment among the people. For his services he was made imperial tutor and member of the grand council of the empire, and was decorated with many-eyed peacocks’ feathers.

To his duties as viceroy were added those of the superintendent of trade, and from that time until his death, with a few intervals of retirement, he practically conducted the foreign policy of China. He concluded the Chifu convention with Sir Thomas Wade (1876), and thus ended the difficulty caused by the murder of Mr Margary in Yunnan; he arranged treaties with Peru and Japan, and he actively directed the Chinese policy in Korea. On the death of the emperor T’ungchi in 1875 he, by suddenly introducing a large armed force into the capital, effected acoup d’étatby which the emperor Kwang Sü was put on the throne under the tutelage of the two dowager empresses; and in 1886, on the conclusion of the Franco-Chinese war, he arranged a treaty with France. Li was always strongly impressed with the necessity of strengthening the empire, and when viceroy of Chihli he raised a large well-drilled and well-armed force, and spent vast sums both in fortifying Port Arthur and the Taku forts and in increasing the navy. For years he had watched the successful reforms effected in Japan and had a well-founded dread of coming into conflict with that empire. Butin 1894 events forced his hand, and in consequence of a dispute as to the relative influence of China and Japan in Korea, war broke out. The result proved the wisdom of Li’s fears. Both on land and at sea the Chinese forces were ignominiously routed, and in 1895, on the fall of Wei-hai-wei, the emperor sued for peace. With characteristic subterfuge his advisers suggested as peace envoys persons whom the mikado very properly and promptly refused to accept, and finally Li was sent to represent his imperial master at the council assembled at Shimonoseki. With great diplomatic skill Li pleaded the cause of his country, but finally had to agree to the cession of Formosa, the Pescadores, and the Liaotung peninsula to the conquerors, and to the payment of an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels. By a subsequent arrangement the Liaotung peninsula was restored to China, in exchange for an increased indemnity. During the peace discussions at Shimonoseki, as Li was being borne through the narrow streets of the town, a would-be assassin fired a pistol point-blank in his face. The wound inflicted was not serious, and after a few days’ rest Li was able to take up again the suspended negotiations. In 1896 he represented the emperor at the coronation of the tsar, and visited Germany, Belgium, France, England, and the United States of America. For some time after his return to China his services were demanded at Peking, where he was virtually constituted minister for foreign affairs; but in 1900 he was transferred to Canton as viceroy of the two Kwangs. The Boxer movement, however, induced the emperor to recall him to the capital, and it was mainly owing to his exertions that, at the conclusion of the outbreak, a protocol of peace was signed in September 1901. For many months his health had been failing, and he died on the 7th of November 1901. He left three sons and one daughter.

(R. K. D.)

LILAC,1orPipe Tree(Syringa vulgaris), a tree of the olive family, Oleaceae. The genus contains about ten species of ornamental hardy deciduous shrubs native in eastern Europe and temperate Asia. They have opposite, generally entire leaves and large panicles of small regular flowers, with a bell-shaped calyx and a 4-lobed cylindrical corolla, with the two stamens characteristic of the order attached at the mouth of the tube. The common lilac is said to have come from Persia in the 16th century, but is doubtfully indigenous in Hungary, the borders of Moldavia, &c. Two kinds ofSyringa, viz.albaandcaerulea, are figured and described by Gerard (Herball, 1597), which he calls the white and the blue pipe privets. The former is the common privet,Ligustrum vulgare, which, and the ash tree,Fraxinus excelsior, are the only members of the family native in Great Britain. The latter is the lilac, as both figure and description agree accurately with it. It was carried by the European colonists to north-east America, and is still grown in gardens of the northern and middle states.

There are many fine varieties of lilac, both with single and double flowers; they are among the commonest and most beautiful of spring-flowering shrubs. The so-called Persian lilac of gardens (S. dubia,S. chinensisvar.Rothomagensis), also known as the Chinese or Rouen lilac, a small shrub 4 to 6 ft. high with intense violet flowers appearing in May and June, is considered to be a hybrid betweenS. vulgarisandS. persica—the true Persian lilac, a native of Persia and Afghanistan, a shrub 4 to 7 ft. high with bluish-purple or white flowers. Of other species,S. Josikaea, from Transylvania, has scentless bluish-purple flowers;S. Emodi, a native of the Himalayas, is a handsome shrub with large ovate leaves and dense panicles of purple or white strongly scented flowers. Lilacs grow freely and flower profusely in almost any soil and situation, but when neglected are apt to become choked with suckers which shoot up in great numbers from the base. They are readily propagated by means of these suckers.Syringa is also a common name for the mock-orangePhiladelphus coronarius(nat. ord.Saxifragaceae), a handsome shrub 2 to 10 ft. high, with smooth ovate leaves and clusters of white flowers which have a strong orange-like scent. It is a native of western Asia, and perhaps some parts of southern Europe.

There are many fine varieties of lilac, both with single and double flowers; they are among the commonest and most beautiful of spring-flowering shrubs. The so-called Persian lilac of gardens (S. dubia,S. chinensisvar.Rothomagensis), also known as the Chinese or Rouen lilac, a small shrub 4 to 6 ft. high with intense violet flowers appearing in May and June, is considered to be a hybrid betweenS. vulgarisandS. persica—the true Persian lilac, a native of Persia and Afghanistan, a shrub 4 to 7 ft. high with bluish-purple or white flowers. Of other species,S. Josikaea, from Transylvania, has scentless bluish-purple flowers;S. Emodi, a native of the Himalayas, is a handsome shrub with large ovate leaves and dense panicles of purple or white strongly scented flowers. Lilacs grow freely and flower profusely in almost any soil and situation, but when neglected are apt to become choked with suckers which shoot up in great numbers from the base. They are readily propagated by means of these suckers.

Syringa is also a common name for the mock-orangePhiladelphus coronarius(nat. ord.Saxifragaceae), a handsome shrub 2 to 10 ft. high, with smooth ovate leaves and clusters of white flowers which have a strong orange-like scent. It is a native of western Asia, and perhaps some parts of southern Europe.

1The Span.lilac, Fr.lilac, mod. lilas, are adapted from Arab.lilak, Pers.līlak, variant ofmilak, of a blue color,mil, blue, the indigo-plant.

1The Span.lilac, Fr.lilac, mod. lilas, are adapted from Arab.lilak, Pers.līlak, variant ofmilak, of a blue color,mil, blue, the indigo-plant.

LILBURNE, JOHN(c.1614-1657), English political agitator, was the younger son of a gentleman of good family in the county of Durham. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a clothier in London, but he appears to have early addicted himself to the “contention, novelties, opposition of government, and violent and bitter expressions” for which he afterwards became so conspicuous as to provoke the saying of Harry Marten (the regicide) that, “if the world was emptied of all but John Lilburn, Lilburn would quarrel with John, and John with Lilburn.” He appears at one time to have been law-clerk to William Prynne. In February 1638, for the part he had taken in importing and circulatingThe Litanyand other publications of John Bastwick and Prynne, offensive to the bishops, he was sentenced by the Star Chamber to be publicly whipped from the Fleet prison to Palace Yard, Westminster, there to stand for two hours in the pillory, and afterwards to be kept in gaol until a fine of £500 had been paid. He devoted his enforced leisure to his favourite form of literary activity, and did not regain his liberty until November 1640, one of the earliest recorded speeches of Oliver Cromwell being made in support of his petition to the House of Commons (Nov. 9, 1640). In 1641 he received an indemnity of £3000. He now entered the army, and in 1642 was taken prisoner at Brentford and tried for his life; sentence would no doubt have been executed had not the parliament by threatening reprisals forced his exchange. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but in April 1645, having become dissatisfied with the predominance of Presbyterianism, and refusing to take the covenant, he resigned his commission, presenting at the same time to the Commons a petition for considerable arrears of pay. His violent language in Westminster Hall about the speaker and other public men led in the following July to his arrest and committal to Newgate, whence he was discharged, however, without trial, by order of the House, in October. In January 1647 he was committed to the Tower for accusations against Cromwell, but was again set at liberty in time to become a disappointed spectator of the failure of the “Levellers” or ultrademocratic party in the army at the Ware rendezvous in the following November. The scene produced a deep impression on his mind, and in February 1649 he along with other petitioners presented to the House of Commons a paper entitledThe Serious Apprehensions of a part of the People on behalf of the Commonwealth, which he followed up with a pamphlet,England’s New Chains Discovered, criticizing Ireton, and another exposing the conduct of Cromwell, Ireton and other leaders of the army since June 1647 (The Hunting of the Foxes from Newmarket and Triploe Heath to Whitehall by Five Small Beagles, the “beagles” being Lilburne, Richard Overton, William Walwyn, Prince and another). Finally, theSecond Part of England’s New Chains Discovered, a violent outburst against “the dominion of a council of state, and a constitution of a new and unexperienced nature,” became the subject of discussion in the House, and led anew to the imprisonment of its author in the Tower on the 11th of April. His trial in the following October, on a charge of seditious and scandalous practices against the state, resulted in his unanimous acquittal, followed by his release in November. In 1650 he was advocating the release of trade from the restrictions of chartered companies and monopolists.

In January 1652, for printing and publishing a petition against Sir Arthur Hesilrige and the Haberdashers’ Hall for what he conceived to have been an injury done to his uncle George Lilburne in 1649, he was sentenced to pay fines amounting to £7000, and to be banished the Commonwealth, with prohibition of return under the pain of death. In June 1653 he nevertheless came back from the Low Countries, where he had busied himself in pamphleteering and such other agitation as was possible, and was immediately arrested; the trial, which was protracted from the 13th of July to the 20th of August, issued in his acquittal, to the great joy of London, but it was nevertheless thought proper to keep him in captivity for “the peace of the nation.” He was detained successively in the Tower, in Jersey, in Guernsey and in Dover Castle. At Dover he came under Quaker influence, and signified his readiness at last to be done with “carnal sword fightings and fleshly bustlings and contests”; and in 1655, on giving security for his good behaviour, he was set free. He now settled at Eltham in Kent, frequently preaching at Quaker meetings in the neighbourhood during the brief remainder of his troubled life. He died on the 29th of August 1657.

His brother, Colonel Robert Lilburne, was among those who signed the death-warrant of Charles I. In 1656 he was M.P. for the East Riding of Yorkshire, and at the restoration was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment.

See D. Masson,Life of Milton(iv. 120); Clement Walker (History of Independency, ii. 247); W. Godwin (Commonwealth, iii. 163-177), and Robert Bisset (Omitted Chapters of the History of England, 191-251).

See D. Masson,Life of Milton(iv. 120); Clement Walker (History of Independency, ii. 247); W. Godwin (Commonwealth, iii. 163-177), and Robert Bisset (Omitted Chapters of the History of England, 191-251).

LILIACEAE, in botany, a natural order of Monocotyledons belonging to the series Liliiflorae, and generally regarded as representing the typical order of Monocotyledons. The plants are generally perennial herbs growing from a bulb or rhizome, sometimes shrubby as in butcher’s broom (Ruscus) or tree-like as in species ofDracaena, YuccaorAloe. The flowers are with few exceptions hermaphrodite, and regular with parts in threes (fig. 5), the perianth which is generally petaloid occupying the two outer whorls, followed by two whorls of stamens, with a superior ovary of three carpels in the centre of the flower; the ovary is generally three-chambered and contains an indefinite number of anatropous ovules on axile placentas (see fig. 2). The fruit is a capsule splitting along the septa (septicidal) (fig. 1), or between them (loculicidal), or a berry (fig. 6,3); the seeds contain a small embryo in a copious fleshy or cartilaginous endosperm. Liliaceae is one of the larger orders of flowering plants containing about 2500 species in 200 genera; it is of world-wide distribution. The plants show great diversity in vegetative structure, which together with the character and mode of dehiscence of the fruit afford a basis for the subdivision of the order into tribes, eleven of which are recognized. The following are the most important tribes.

k, Present corm.

h,h, Brown scales covering it.

w, Its roots.

st, Its withered flowering stem.

k′, Younger corm produced fromk.

wh, Roots fromk′, which grows at expense ofk.

s,s′,s″, Sheathing leaves.

l′,l″, Foliage leaves.

b,b′, Flowers.

k″, Young corm produced from

k′, in autumn, which in succeeding autumn will produce flowers.

Melanthoideae.—The plants have a rhizome or corm, and the fruit is a capsule. It contains 36 genera, many of which are north temperate and three are represented in Britain, viz.Tofieldia, an arctic and alpine genus of small herbs with a slender scape springing from a tuft of narrow ensiform leaves and bearing a raceme of small green flowers;Narthecium(bog-asphodel), herbs with a habit similar toTofieldia, but with larger golden-yellow flowers; andColchicum, a genus with about 30 species including the meadow saffron or autumn crocus (C. autumnale).Colchicumillustrates the corm-development which is rare in Liliaceae though common in the allied order Iridaceae; a corm is formed by swelling at the base of the axis (figs. 3, 4) and persists after the flowers and leaves, bearing next season’s plant as a lateral shoot in the axil of a scale-leaf at its base.Gloriosa, well known in cultivation, climbs by means of its tendril-like leaf-tips; it has handsome flowers with decurved orange-red or yellow petals; it is a native of tropical Asia and Africa.Veratrumis an alpine genus of the north temperate zone.Asphodeloideae.—The plants generally have a rhizome bearing radical leaves, as in asphodel, rarely a stem with a tuft of leaves as inAloe, very rarely a tuber (Eriospermum) or bulb (Bowiea). The flowers are borne in a terminal raceme, the anthers open introrsely and the fruit is a capsule, very rarely, as inDianella, a berry. It contains 64 genera.Asphodelus(asphodel) is a Mediterranean genus;Simethis, a slender herb with grassy radical leaves, is a native of west and southern Europe extending into south Ireland.AnthericumandChlorophytum, herbs with radical often grass-like leaves and scapes bearing a more or less branched inflorescence of small generally white flowers, are widely spread in the tropics. Other genera areFunkia, native of China and Japan, cultivated in the open air in Britain;Hemerocallis, a small genus of central Europe and temperate Asia—H. flavais known in gardens as the day lily;Phormium, a New Zealand genus to which belongs New Zealand flax,P. tenax, a useful fibre-plant;Kniphofia, South and East Africa, several species of which are cultivated; andAloe. A small group of Australian genera closely approach the order Juncaceae in having small crowded flowers with a scarious or membranous perianth; they includeXanthorrhoea(grass-tree or black-boy) andKingia, arborescent plants with an erect woody stem crowned with a tuft of long stiff narrow leaves, from the centre of which rises a tall dense flower-spike or a number of stalked flower-heads; this group has been included in Juncaceae, from which it is doubtfully distinguished only by the absence of the long twisted stigmas which characterize the true rushes.Allioideae.—The plants grow from a bulb or short rhizome; the inflorescence is an apparent umbel formed of several shortened monochasial cymes and subtended by a pair of large bracts. It contains 22 genera, the largest of whichAlliumhas about 250 species—7 are British;Agapanthusor African lily is a well-known garden plant; inGagea, a genus of small bulbous herbs found in most parts of Europe, the inflorescence is reduced to a few flowers or a single flower;G. luteais a local and rare British plant.Lilioideae.—Bulbous plants with a terminal racemose inflorescence; the anthers open introrsely and the capsule is loculicidal. It contains 28 genera, several being represented in Britain. The typical genusLiliumandFritillariaare widely distributed in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere;F. meleagris, snake’s head, is found in moist meadows in some of the southern and central English counties;Tulipacontains more than 50 species in Europe and temperate Asia, and is specially abundant in the dry districts of central Asia;Lloydia, a small slender alpine plant, widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, occurs on Snowdon in Wales;Scilla(squill) is a large genus, chiefly in Europe and Asia—S. nutansis the bluebell or wild hyacinth;Ornithogalum(Europe, Africa and west Asia) is closely allied toScilla—O. umbellatum, star of Bethlehem, is naturalized in Britain;HyacinthusandMuscariare chiefly Mediterranean;M. racemosum, grape hyacinth, occurs in sandy pastures in the eastern counties of England. To this group belong a number of tropical and especially South African genera such asAlbuca,Urginea,Drimia,Lachenaliaand others.Dracaenoideae.—The plants generally have an erect stem with a crown of leaves which are often leathery; the anthers open introrsely and the fruit is a berry or capsule. It contains 9 genera, several of which, such asYucca(fig. 5),DracaenaandCordylineinclude arborescent species in which the stem increases in thickness continually by a centrifugal formation of new tissue; an extreme case is afforded byDracaena Draco, the dragon-tree of Teneriffe.Yuccaand several allied genera are natives of the dry country of the southern and western United States and of Central America.Dracaenaand the allied genusCordylineoccur in the warmer regions of the Old World. There is a close relation between the pollination of many yuccas and the life of a moth (Pronuba yuccasella); the flowers are open and scented at night when the female moth becomes active, first collecting a load of pollen and then depositing her eggs, generally in a different flower from that which has supplied the pollen. The eggs are deposited in the ovary-wall, usually just below an ovule; after each deposition the moth runs to the top of the pistil and thrusts some pollen into the opening of the stigma.Development of larva and seed go on together, a few of the seeds serving as food for the insect, which when mature eats through the pericarp and drops to the ground, remaining dormant in its cocoon until the next season of flowering when it emerges as a moth.Fig. 5.—Yucca gloriosa.Plant much reduced. 1, Floral diagram. 2, Flower.Fig. 6.—Twig of Butcher’s Broom,Ruscus aculeatus, slightly enlarged. 1, Male flower, 2, female flower, both enlarged; 3, berry, slightly reduced.From Strasburger’sLehrbuch der Botanik, by permission of Gustav Fischer.Fig. 7.—Rhizome ofPolygonatum multiflorum.a, Bud of next year’s aerial shoot.b, Scar of this year’s, andc,d,e, scars of three preceding years’ aerial shoots.w, Roots.Asparagoideae.—Plants growing from a rhizome; fruit a berry.Asparaguscontains about 100 species in the dryer warmer parts of the Old World; it has a short creeping rhizome, from which springs a slender, herbaceous or woody, often very much branched, erect or climbing stem, the ultimate branches of which are flattened or needle-like leaf-like structures (cladodes), the true leaves being reduced to scales or, in the climbers, forming short, hard more or less recurved spines.Ruscus aculeatus(fig. 6) is butcher’s broom, an evergreen shrub with flattened leaf-like cladodes, native in the southerly portion of England and Wales; the small flowers are unisexual and borne on the face of the cladode; the male contains three stamens, the filaments of which are united to form a short stout column on which are seated the diverging cells of the anthers; in the female the ovary is enveloped by a fleshy staminal tube on which are borne three barren anthers.PolygonatumandMaianthemumare allied genera with a herbaceous leafy stem and, in the former axillary flowers, in the latter flowers in a terminal raceme; both occur rarely in woods in Britain;P. multiflorumis the well-known Solomon’s seal of gardens (fig. 7), so called from the seal-like scars on the rhizome of stems of previous seasons, the hanging flowers of which contain no honey, but are visited by bees for the pollen.Convallariais lily of the valley;Aspidistra, native of the Himalayas, China and Japan, is a well-known pot plant; its flowers depart from the normal arrangement of the order in having the parts in fours (tetramerous). Paris, including the British HerbParis(P. quadrifolia), has solitary tetra- to poly-merous flowers terminating the short annual shoot which bears a whorl of four or more leaves below the flower; in this and in some species of the nearly allied genusTrillium(chiefly temperate North America) the flowers have a fetid smell, which together with the dark purple of the ovary and stigmas and frequently also of the stamens and petals, attracts carrion-loving flies, which alight on the stigma and then climb the anthers and become dusted with pollen; the pollen is then carried to the stigmas of another flower.Luzuriagoideaeare shrubs or undershrubs with erect or climbing branches and fruit a berry.Lapageria, a native of Chile, is a favourite greenhouse climber with fine bell-shaped flowers.Smilacoideaeare climbing shrubs with broad net-veined leaves and small dioecious flowers in umbels springing from the leaf-axils; the fruit is a berry. They climb by means of tendrils, which are stipular structures arising from the leaf-sheath.Smilaxis a characteristic tropical genus containing about 200 species; the dried roots of some species are the drug sarsaparilla.The two tribesOphiopogonoideaeandAletroideaeare often included in a distinct order, Haemodoraceae. The plants have a short rhizome and narrow or lanceolate basal leaves; and they are characterized by the ovary being often half-inferior. They contain a few genera chiefly old world tropical and subtropical. The leaves of species ofSansevieriayield a valuable fibre.

Melanthoideae.—The plants have a rhizome or corm, and the fruit is a capsule. It contains 36 genera, many of which are north temperate and three are represented in Britain, viz.Tofieldia, an arctic and alpine genus of small herbs with a slender scape springing from a tuft of narrow ensiform leaves and bearing a raceme of small green flowers;Narthecium(bog-asphodel), herbs with a habit similar toTofieldia, but with larger golden-yellow flowers; andColchicum, a genus with about 30 species including the meadow saffron or autumn crocus (C. autumnale).Colchicumillustrates the corm-development which is rare in Liliaceae though common in the allied order Iridaceae; a corm is formed by swelling at the base of the axis (figs. 3, 4) and persists after the flowers and leaves, bearing next season’s plant as a lateral shoot in the axil of a scale-leaf at its base.Gloriosa, well known in cultivation, climbs by means of its tendril-like leaf-tips; it has handsome flowers with decurved orange-red or yellow petals; it is a native of tropical Asia and Africa.Veratrumis an alpine genus of the north temperate zone.

Asphodeloideae.—The plants generally have a rhizome bearing radical leaves, as in asphodel, rarely a stem with a tuft of leaves as inAloe, very rarely a tuber (Eriospermum) or bulb (Bowiea). The flowers are borne in a terminal raceme, the anthers open introrsely and the fruit is a capsule, very rarely, as inDianella, a berry. It contains 64 genera.Asphodelus(asphodel) is a Mediterranean genus;Simethis, a slender herb with grassy radical leaves, is a native of west and southern Europe extending into south Ireland.AnthericumandChlorophytum, herbs with radical often grass-like leaves and scapes bearing a more or less branched inflorescence of small generally white flowers, are widely spread in the tropics. Other genera areFunkia, native of China and Japan, cultivated in the open air in Britain;Hemerocallis, a small genus of central Europe and temperate Asia—H. flavais known in gardens as the day lily;Phormium, a New Zealand genus to which belongs New Zealand flax,P. tenax, a useful fibre-plant;Kniphofia, South and East Africa, several species of which are cultivated; andAloe. A small group of Australian genera closely approach the order Juncaceae in having small crowded flowers with a scarious or membranous perianth; they includeXanthorrhoea(grass-tree or black-boy) andKingia, arborescent plants with an erect woody stem crowned with a tuft of long stiff narrow leaves, from the centre of which rises a tall dense flower-spike or a number of stalked flower-heads; this group has been included in Juncaceae, from which it is doubtfully distinguished only by the absence of the long twisted stigmas which characterize the true rushes.

Allioideae.—The plants grow from a bulb or short rhizome; the inflorescence is an apparent umbel formed of several shortened monochasial cymes and subtended by a pair of large bracts. It contains 22 genera, the largest of whichAlliumhas about 250 species—7 are British;Agapanthusor African lily is a well-known garden plant; inGagea, a genus of small bulbous herbs found in most parts of Europe, the inflorescence is reduced to a few flowers or a single flower;G. luteais a local and rare British plant.

Lilioideae.—Bulbous plants with a terminal racemose inflorescence; the anthers open introrsely and the capsule is loculicidal. It contains 28 genera, several being represented in Britain. The typical genusLiliumandFritillariaare widely distributed in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere;F. meleagris, snake’s head, is found in moist meadows in some of the southern and central English counties;Tulipacontains more than 50 species in Europe and temperate Asia, and is specially abundant in the dry districts of central Asia;Lloydia, a small slender alpine plant, widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, occurs on Snowdon in Wales;Scilla(squill) is a large genus, chiefly in Europe and Asia—S. nutansis the bluebell or wild hyacinth;Ornithogalum(Europe, Africa and west Asia) is closely allied toScilla—O. umbellatum, star of Bethlehem, is naturalized in Britain;HyacinthusandMuscariare chiefly Mediterranean;M. racemosum, grape hyacinth, occurs in sandy pastures in the eastern counties of England. To this group belong a number of tropical and especially South African genera such asAlbuca,Urginea,Drimia,Lachenaliaand others.

Dracaenoideae.—The plants generally have an erect stem with a crown of leaves which are often leathery; the anthers open introrsely and the fruit is a berry or capsule. It contains 9 genera, several of which, such asYucca(fig. 5),DracaenaandCordylineinclude arborescent species in which the stem increases in thickness continually by a centrifugal formation of new tissue; an extreme case is afforded byDracaena Draco, the dragon-tree of Teneriffe.Yuccaand several allied genera are natives of the dry country of the southern and western United States and of Central America.Dracaenaand the allied genusCordylineoccur in the warmer regions of the Old World. There is a close relation between the pollination of many yuccas and the life of a moth (Pronuba yuccasella); the flowers are open and scented at night when the female moth becomes active, first collecting a load of pollen and then depositing her eggs, generally in a different flower from that which has supplied the pollen. The eggs are deposited in the ovary-wall, usually just below an ovule; after each deposition the moth runs to the top of the pistil and thrusts some pollen into the opening of the stigma.Development of larva and seed go on together, a few of the seeds serving as food for the insect, which when mature eats through the pericarp and drops to the ground, remaining dormant in its cocoon until the next season of flowering when it emerges as a moth.

a, Bud of next year’s aerial shoot.

b, Scar of this year’s, andc,d,e, scars of three preceding years’ aerial shoots.

w, Roots.

Asparagoideae.—Plants growing from a rhizome; fruit a berry.Asparaguscontains about 100 species in the dryer warmer parts of the Old World; it has a short creeping rhizome, from which springs a slender, herbaceous or woody, often very much branched, erect or climbing stem, the ultimate branches of which are flattened or needle-like leaf-like structures (cladodes), the true leaves being reduced to scales or, in the climbers, forming short, hard more or less recurved spines.Ruscus aculeatus(fig. 6) is butcher’s broom, an evergreen shrub with flattened leaf-like cladodes, native in the southerly portion of England and Wales; the small flowers are unisexual and borne on the face of the cladode; the male contains three stamens, the filaments of which are united to form a short stout column on which are seated the diverging cells of the anthers; in the female the ovary is enveloped by a fleshy staminal tube on which are borne three barren anthers.PolygonatumandMaianthemumare allied genera with a herbaceous leafy stem and, in the former axillary flowers, in the latter flowers in a terminal raceme; both occur rarely in woods in Britain;P. multiflorumis the well-known Solomon’s seal of gardens (fig. 7), so called from the seal-like scars on the rhizome of stems of previous seasons, the hanging flowers of which contain no honey, but are visited by bees for the pollen.Convallariais lily of the valley;Aspidistra, native of the Himalayas, China and Japan, is a well-known pot plant; its flowers depart from the normal arrangement of the order in having the parts in fours (tetramerous). Paris, including the British HerbParis(P. quadrifolia), has solitary tetra- to poly-merous flowers terminating the short annual shoot which bears a whorl of four or more leaves below the flower; in this and in some species of the nearly allied genusTrillium(chiefly temperate North America) the flowers have a fetid smell, which together with the dark purple of the ovary and stigmas and frequently also of the stamens and petals, attracts carrion-loving flies, which alight on the stigma and then climb the anthers and become dusted with pollen; the pollen is then carried to the stigmas of another flower.

Luzuriagoideaeare shrubs or undershrubs with erect or climbing branches and fruit a berry.Lapageria, a native of Chile, is a favourite greenhouse climber with fine bell-shaped flowers.

Smilacoideaeare climbing shrubs with broad net-veined leaves and small dioecious flowers in umbels springing from the leaf-axils; the fruit is a berry. They climb by means of tendrils, which are stipular structures arising from the leaf-sheath.Smilaxis a characteristic tropical genus containing about 200 species; the dried roots of some species are the drug sarsaparilla.

The two tribesOphiopogonoideaeandAletroideaeare often included in a distinct order, Haemodoraceae. The plants have a short rhizome and narrow or lanceolate basal leaves; and they are characterized by the ovary being often half-inferior. They contain a few genera chiefly old world tropical and subtropical. The leaves of species ofSansevieriayield a valuable fibre.

Liliaceae may be regarded as the typical order of the series Liliiflorae. It resembles Juncaceae in the general plan of the flower, which, however, has become much more elaborate and varied in the form and colour of its perianth in association with transmission of pollen by insect agency; a link between the two orders is found in the group of Australian genera referred to above under Asphodeloideae. The tribe Ophiopogonoideae, with its tendency to an inferior ovary, suggests an affinity with the Amaryllidaceae which resemble Liliaceae in habit and in the horizontal plan of the flower, but have an inferior ovary. The tribe Smilacoideae, shrubby climbers with net-veined leaves and small unisexual flowers, bears much the same relationship to the order as a whole as does the order Dioscoreaceae, which have a similar habit, but flowers with an inferior ovary, to the Amaryllidaceae.


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