Climbing plants, more or less shrubby, with alternate ribbed and net-veined petioled leaves, and small dioecious flowers in umbels. Perianth regular, of 6 greenish sepals, free from the ovary. Stamens as many as the sepals, with 1-celled anthers. Ovary 3-celled, surrounded by 3 sessile spreading stigmas. Fruit a small berry. Represented by the single genus

Silax

Tourn. Green-Brier. Cat-Brier. (Included in Liliacece, in Macoun's Catalogue.)

1. S. his'pida, Muhl. Stem woody, densely covered below with long weak prickles. Leaves large, ovate or heart-shaped, pointed, thin, 5-9 - nerved. Peduncles of the axillary umbels much longer than the petioles. Berry black. - Moist thickets.

2. S. rotundifo'lia, L., var. quadrangularis, Gray. (S. quadrangularis ,Pursh, in Macoun's Catalogue.) Stem woody, it and the branches armed with scattered prickles. Branches 4-angular. Peduncles not longer than the petioles. Leaves ovate, broader than long, slightly cordate. Berry blue-black. - South-western Ontario.

3. S. herba'cea, L. (Carrion-Flower.) Stem herbaceous, not prickly. Leaves ovate-oblong and heart-shaped, 7-9-ribbed, long-petioled, mucronate. Flowers carrion-scented. Berry bluish-black. - Meadows and river banks.