33 
* ASAGR/EÁ officinalis. 
| Spike-flowered Asagrea. 
HEXANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. MELANTHACER. 
ASAGRZ:A. Flores polygami, racemosi, nudi. Perianthium 6-partitum, 
foliolis linearibus aveniis subaequalibus, basi excavatis nectarifluis, staminibus 
eequalibus. Stamina alterné breviora ; antheris cordatis, quasi unilocularibus, 
post dehiscentiam clypeolatis. Ovaria 3, simplicissima, in stigma obscurum at- 
tenuata. — Folliculi tres; acuminati, chartacel; seminibus acinaciformibus, cor- 
rugatis, alatis, Herbs bulbose, foliis gramineis, floribus parvis, pallidis, 
dens? racemosis. 
ASAGR&a officinalis. 
Veratrum officinale. Schlecht. in Linnea, vi. 45. 
Helonias officinalis. Don. in Edinb. new phil. journ. Oct. 1832. p. 234. 
Lindl. fl. med. 586. 
Herba bulbosa, foliis gramineis, subcarinatis, viridibus, margine aspe- 
riusculis, scapi 4-5-pedalis longitudine. Scapus teres. Racemus semipe- 
dalis, densissima, stricta, spiceformis. Flores albi, basi bracted rotundatá 
suffulti. Anthere lutee, basi cordate, bivalves, uniloculares, demim cly- 
peatim peltate (loculis binis apice confluentibus). 
This half-hardy bulbous plant was received by the Horti- 
cultural Society from Mr. Hartweg, who found it in Mexico, 
in the neighbourhood of Vera Cruz, where it was called 
Sabadilla. It is no doubt the plant found by Deppe and 
Schiede on the eastern side of the Mexican Andes, near 
Barranca de Tioselo, by the Hacienda dela Laguna, in rocky 
places, and is probably that from which the Sabadilla seeds 
of commerce are, at least in part, procured. 
It is however neither a Veratrum as Schlechtendahl sup- 
* In compliment to Dr. Asa Gray, the author of a treatise upon North 
American Melanthacez, and, in conjunction with Dr. Torrey, of the Flora of 
North America, now publishing. 
Ld 
