486 



MELANTHACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. TOFIELDIA Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 2, 157. 1778. 



Perennial herbs, with short erect or horizontal rootstocks, fiorous roots, slender erect 

 stems leafless above or nearly so, linear somewhat 2-ranked and equitant leaves clustered at 

 the base, and small perfect white or green flowers in a terminal raceme. Pedicels bracted at 

 the base, solitary or clustered. Flowers usually involucrate by 3 scarious somewhat united 

 bractlets below the calyx. Perianth-segments oblong or obovate, subequal, persistent, gland- 

 less. Stamens 6; filaments filiform; anthers ovate, sometimes cordate, introrse. Ovary ses- 

 sile, 3-lobed at the summit; styles 3, short, recurved. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-beaked, septicidally 

 dehiscent to the base, many-seeded. Seeds unappendaged. [Dedicated to Tofield, an Eng- 

 lish correspondent of Hudson.] 



About 12 species, natives of the north temperate zone, i or 2 in the Andes of South America. 

 Besides the following another occurs in the southeastern States and two in northwestern America. 

 Type species: Tofieldia paluslris Huds. 



1. Tofieldia palustris Huds. Scottish Aspho- 



del. False Asphodel. Fig. 1220. 



Tofieldia palustris Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 2, 157. 1778. 



Glabrous, stern slender, scape-like, leafless or bear- 

 ing a few leaves near the base, 2'-io' tall. Leaves 

 tufted, ^'-4' long, \"-2." wide; raceme oblong or sub- 

 globose in flower, dense, elongating to an inch or less 

 in fruit, the lower flowers first expanding; pedicels 

 usually solitary, minutely involucrate, \"-\" long in 

 fruit; flowers greenish white, i" broad; perianth- 

 segments obovate, obtuse, much shorter than the 

 oblong-globose minutely beaked capsule ; seeds oblong, 

 unappendaged. 



Greenland and Labrador to Alaska, south to Quebec, the 

 shores of Lake Superior, and the Canadian Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Also in Europe and Asia. Lamb-lily. Summer. 



2. TRIANTHA Nutt. ; Baker, Journ. Linn. 



Soc. 17: 490. 1879. 



Perennial herbs, with pubescent foliage, the leaves mainly basal, their blades narrow, 

 flat. Flowers perfect, mostly clustered in 3's, in erect narrow centrifugal panicles; perianth- 

 segments white or greenish, nearly equal, glandless, persistent; stamens 6, mainly hypogy- 

 nous, the filaments slender, the anthers marginally dehiscent; ovules numerous in each 

 cavity of the ovary ; capsule 3-celled, dehiscent nearly or quite to the base ; seeds with tail- 

 like appendages at each end. [Greek, referring to the aggregation of the flowers in 3's.] 



Three known species, the following and one in Japan. Type species : Triantha glutitiosa 

 (Michx.) Baker. 



Capsule oblong, 3," -3^/2" long; perianth-segments thin. i. T. glutitiosa. 



Capsule ovoid, Ij4 w -a" long; fruiting perianth-segments rigid. 2. T. racemosa. 



i. Triantha glutinosa (Michx.) Baker. 

 Glutinous Triantha. Fig. 1221. 



Narthecium gliitinosum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 210. 



1803. 



Tofieldia glutinosa Pers. Syn. i : 399. 1805. 

 Triantha glutinosa Baker, Journ. Linn. Soc. 17: 490. 



1879. 



Stem viscid-pubescent with black glands, 6'-2o' 

 tall, bearing 2-4 leaves near the base. Basal 

 leaves tufted, 2'-?' long, i"-3" wide; raceme 

 oblong and i'-ij' long in flower, longer in 

 fruit, the upper flowers first expanding; pedicels 

 commonly clustered in 3's (i '5-4*5), ascending, 

 viscid-pubescent, becoming 2"-6" long in fruit ; 

 involucral bracts minute, united nearly or quite 

 to their apices, borne just beneath the flowers; 

 flowers 3"-4" broad ; perianth-segments oblong, 

 mostly obtuse, membranous ; capsule oblong, 

 about 3" high, ii" in diameter, thin-walled, twice 

 as long as the perianth, the beaks i" long or less ; 

 seeds slender-tailed at each end. 



In bogs, Newfoundland to Minnesota, Maine, Ohio, 

 Michigan, and in the southern Alleghanies. May- 

 June. False asphodel. 



