256 FLORA. 



Flowers small, greenish-yellow, perfect, borne in a terminal raceme. Pedicels 

 bracted at base and usually bearing a small bractlet. Perianth -segments persistent, 

 linear or linear-lanceolate, obscurely 3-5 -nerved, glandless. Stamens 6; filaments 

 subulate, woolly; anthers linear-oblong, erect, introrse. Ovary sessile; style very 

 short or none; stigma slightly 3-lobed. Capsule oblong, loculicidally dehiscent, 

 many-seeded, the linear seeds tailed at each end. [Greek, signifying without step, 

 the plants reputed to cause lameness in cattle.] Four known species, natives of 

 the northern hemisphere. Besides the following, another occurs in northwestern 

 America. 



i. Abama Americana (Ker) Morong. AMERICAN BOG- ASPHODEL. (I. F. f. 

 969.) Glabrous; stems wiry, stiff, 2.5-4.5 dm. tall. Basal leaves 2 mm. wide or 

 less; lower stem leaves 1-5 cm. long; raceme 2-5 cm. long, dense; perianth- 

 segments 4-6 mm. long, slightly exceeding the stamens; pedicels ascending, 6-8 

 mm. long in fruit; capsule about I cm. long, tapering to a subulate beak. In pine 

 barren swamps, S. N. J. June-Sept. 



3. XEROPHYLLUM Michx. 



Tall herbs, with thick short woody rootstocks, simple erect leafy stems, the 

 leaves narrowly linear, rough-margined. Flowers very numerous, white, in a large 

 dense terminal raceme, the lower ones first expanding. Perianth withering- 

 persistent, its segments oblong or ovate, 5-y-nerved. spreading, glandless. Stamens 

 6, rather shorter than the perianth-segments; filaments subulate, glabrous; anthers 

 oblong. Ovary sessile, 3-grooved; styles 3, filiform, reflexed or recurved; ovules 

 only 2-4 in each cavity. Capsule ovoid, 3-grooved, loculicidally and sometimes also 

 septicidally dehiscent. Seeds 5, oblong, not at all appendaged, or only minutely 

 so. [Greek, signifying a dry leaf.] Three species, the following of the southeastern 

 U. S., the others of western America. 



i. Xerophyllum asphodeloides (L.) Nutt. TURKEY-BEARD. (I. F. f. 970.) 

 Stem 0.6-1.4 m - tall, densely leafy below, sparsely leafy above. Leaves slightly 

 dilated at the base, the lower 1.5-4.5 dm. long, 2 mm. wide or less, except at the 

 broader base; flowering raceme 5-8 cm. in diameter, its summit conic; flowering 

 pedicels spreading, filiform, 1.8-3.5 cm - l n g> m fruit erect; perianth -segments 

 obtuse, about 6 mm. long; capsule ellipsoid, obtuse, 4 mm. long. In dry pine 

 barrens, S. N. J. to E. Tenn. and Ga. May-July. 



4. HELONIAS L. 



A perennial glabrous bog herb, with a stout rootstock, thick fibrous roots, basal 

 oblanceolate persistent leaves and rather large perfect purple flowers, racemed at 

 the summit of an erect hollow bracted scape. Perianth-segments spreading, 

 spatulate, persistent. Stamens 6, hypogynous, longer than the perianth-segments; 

 filaments filiform; anthers ovate. Ovary ovoid, 3-grooved, 3-celled, slightly 

 3-lobed, many-ovuled; styles 3, stigmatic along the inner side, deciduous. Capsule 

 obovoid, deeply 3-lobed, the lobes divergent, ventrally dehiscent above. Seeds 

 numerous, linear, white-appendaged at each end. [Name from the Greek, in 

 allusion to its growth in swamps.] A monotypic genus of eastern N. Am. 



i. Helonias bullata L. SWAMP PINK. (I. F. f. 971.) Leaves dark green, 

 thin, clustered, 1.5-4 dm. long, 1.5-5 cm - wide- Scape stout, its bracts lanceo- 

 late, acute or acuminate; raceme dense, becoming 1-2 dm. long in fruit; perianth- 

 segments about 6 mm. long; capsules about 6 mm. long, the valves papery; seeds 

 3-4 mm. long. In bogs, N. N. J., S. N. Y., and E. Perm. (?) to Va. Local. 

 April-May. 



5. CHAMAELIRIUM Willd. 



Glabrous, slightly fleshy herbs with bitter tuberous rootstocks. Basal leaves 

 spatulate. Flowers small, white, dioecious, in a long bractless spike-like raceme. 

 Perianth of 6 i -nerved segments. Staminate flowers with 6 stamens, the anthers 

 subglobose, 2-celled; pistillate flowers with a 3-celled oblong ovary, 3 short styles, 

 stigmatic along the inner side, and usually with 6 staminodia. Capsule oblong, 

 slightly 3-lobed, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds 6-12 in each cavity, broadly winged 

 at both ends, narrowly winged on the sides. [Greek, signifying a low Ii3y e ] Only 

 the following species, natives of eastern N. Am. 



