MELANTHIACEAE 275 
2. TRIANTHA Nutt. Herbs with pubescent foliage. Leaves erect or 
nearly so. Flowers perfect, paniculate. Petals greenish-white, longer and 
slightly narrower than the sepals.—Three known species, besides the following, 
one in Japan.—WOOD-FEATHERLING. 
Petals oblong, permanently membranous: capsule 6- E mm. long. 1. T. glutinosa. 
Petals cuneate, becoming rigid: capsule 3- 4 mm. lon 2. T. racemosa. 
1. T. glutinosa (Michx.) Baker. Plant 
5 m. tall: basal leaves with elon- 
gate linear blades: panicl 
long; pedicels 3-10 mm. 1 tals 
ong: pe 
. long, much shorter than the 
capsule.—Bogs and moist ground, Blue 
Ridge and more northern arate N. C. 
ium pro Ore. Alas, Ont, and Me. 
2. 7. racemosa (Walt) Small Plant 
simila. to the preceding in foliage and 
abit: panicles 2-10 em. long; pedicels 
. long: petals 4-5 mm. lon Na 
slightly shorter than the capsule. LTofieldia pubens ran Deok pinelands, in 
. J.—Spr.— 
acid soil, Coastal Plain, Fla. to La. 
3. PLEEA Michx. ane rush-like herbs. Leaves few, erect or nearly 
so, striate. Flow in a terminal ra- 
ceme with Misi S qu imbricate 
spathe-like bracts, green. Sepals slightly 
longer than the petals.—One species. 
. P. tenuifolia Miehx. Plant 3-8 dm. 
tall: basal leaves with eu id n 
striate Piin. blades: racem 
der, 3-9-flowered; bracts 1.5-2 c EE 
acuminat e: sepa als and petals 12-14 mm. 
e ~ s firn: fe ink 
6-9 long.— ( RUSH-FEATHERL 
Pineland swamps, Coastal Plain, Te to 
C.—Fall. 
4, XEROPHYLLUM Michx. Stout rigid herbs. Leaves very numerous 
at the base of the stem, spreading. Flowers perfect, in a raceme-like panicle, 
white, each subtended’ by 1-3 narrow 
branchlets. Sepals and petals broad, 
r 
Three known species; besides the follow- 
ing 2 occur in western North America. 
1. X. asphodeloides (L.) Nutt. Plant 
6-15 dm. tall: leaf- blades slenderly at- 
iff icl 
tenuate, sti wiry: panicle stout, 
many-flowered ; AA 1.5-2 em. long; 
petals ovate, about mm. long, ob- 
tuse: capsule ovoid, a mm. long.— 
( TURKEY-BEARD. MOUNTAIN- ASPHODEL.) 
