Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/121

 SMIBERT and the eggs are 8 to 12 ; like other mergansers it hybridizes with the ducks, especially with the genus clangula (Flem.). It is generally SMILAX 113 Smew (Mergellus albellus). slieved to be accidental in America, only a single female specimen having been obtained Audubon, near New Orleans. SMIBERT, or Smybert, John, a Scottish painter, )rn in Edinburgh about 1684, died in Bos- >n, Mass., in 1751. He studied in Italy for three years, and attained a respectable stand- ing as a portrait painter in London. In 1728 he accompanied Dean Berkeley to America, after whose return he settled in Boston. He painted most of the contemporary worthies of New England and New York. His most cele- brated picture is a large portrait piece repre- senting Berkeley and several members of his family, together with the artist himself, on their first landing in America. It is now in the possession of Yale college. SMILAX, a genus of endogenous, mostly shrubby, often prickly plants, which climb by tendrils. They are abundant in warm cli- mates, and are represented in the Atlantic states by several species, some of which are popularly known as greenbrier, catbrier, or brier. The genus is the only one in the flora of the northernmost states which affords an example of a woody endogenous stem; the general aspect of the plants is that of the exo- gens, as their leaves are netted-veined, while in the great majority of endogens they are parallel- veined ; the petioles are furnished with a tendril upon each side. The flowers, in ax- illary umbels, are small, dioacious, with the greenish or yellowish regular perianth in six parts ; the sterile flower has six stamens ; the fertile has a free ovary of three or more cells and as many thick and spreading stigmas; fruit a small berry with one to three seeds. The best known species is the common green- brier (smilax rotundifolia}^ which extends from Canada through the southern states; it often forms, by spreading over the shrubs and trees, impenetrable thickets, its stems extending from one tree to another for 30 or 40 ft., and very slender and strong; the smooth leaves are nearly orbicular, often broader than long, and somewhat heart-shaped at base, of a pleasing soft green color, which turns to deep yellow in autumn, and later to a rusty brown, though in the southern states they are nearly ever- green ; the small clusters of berries are black, with a bloom, and have a tempting appear- ance, but are very nauseous to the taste. The plant is variable, and forms of it have been described as distinct species. It is a handsome ornamental climber, which has received no attention because it is common. There are about a dozen other species, from New Jer- sey southward, with variously shaped leaves, some of them evergreen, and differing in their fruit clusters. The most important of these is popularly known in the southern states as China brier (S. pseudo- China), which extends northward to New Jersey ; its stems, especially near the base, have weak blackish prickles; the leaves are ovate heart-shaped, often with a fringe of rough hairs on the margins and a Greenbrier (Smilax rotundifolia). slender point. The young and tender shoots of this are eaten as asparagus; the mature stems have a reputation as an alterative ; the rootstocks, which are tuberous, brownish red, and sometimes as large as the two fists, con- tain considerable starch, which the Seminoles formerly used in times of scarcity, both by separating the starch and by cooking the whole root ; a kind of beer has been made from them, with molasses, parched corn, and sassafras ; the root is light, porous, easily worked, and is largely used for tobacco pipes. A few spe- cies are herbaceous, the most common being the variable 8. herlacea, 1 to 6 ft. high, with mostly heart-shaped leaves ; the flowers are in large umbels, upon stalks 3 to 8 in. long, the fertile ones succeeded by a showy, nearly glob- ular cluster of berries. This is sometimes a troublesome weed in pastures ; when in bloom its presence is readily detected from the odor of its flowers, which has given the plant the well merited name of carrion flower. Two