GENUS 13. 



LILY FAMILY. 



5 11 



/WVWV 



2. Muscari racemosum (L.) Mill. Starch 

 Grape-Hyacinth. Fig. 1275. 



Hyacinthits racemosus L. Sp. PI. 318. 1753. 



Muscari racemosum Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 2. 

 1768. 



Similar to the preceding species. Leaves i"-2" 

 wide, recurved or spreading, channeled above ; 

 raceme oblong or ovoid, many-flowered, dense, 

 i'-2i' long; pedicels shorter than the starchy- 

 scented flowers or sometimes equalling them, 

 slender, much longer than the bracts ; perianth 

 oblong, urn-shaped, constricted at the throat, 

 2"-3" long, with 6 deltoid recurved white teeth ; 

 capsule-valves suborbicular, retuse. 



Escaped from gardens, Connecticut and southern 

 New York to Pennsylvania and Virginia. Native of 

 southern Europe. Grape-flower. Pearls-of-Spain. 

 Starch-hyacinth. April-May. 



14. ALETRIS L. Sp. PI. 319. 1753. 



Scapose perennial bitter fibrous-rooted herbs, with basal spreading lanceolate leaves, and 

 small white or yellow bracted perfect flowers in a terminal spike-like raceme. Perianth 

 oblong or campanulate, roughened without, 6-lobed, its lower part adnate to the ovary. 

 Stamens 6, inserted on the perianth at the bases of the lobes, included ; filaments short ; 

 anthers introrse. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules numerous, anatropous ; style subulate, or short, 

 3-cleft above; stigmas minutely 2-lobed. Capsule ovoid, enclosed by the persistent perianth, 

 3-celled, many-seeded, loculicidal. Seeds oblong, ribbed. Embryo small. Endosperm fleshy. 

 [Greek, signifying to grind corn, apparently in allusion to the rough, mealy flowers.] 



About 8 species, natives of eastern North America and eastern Asia. Type species : A. 

 farinosa L. 



A genus of uncertain affinity, which has been placed by authors in Haemodoraceae and in 

 Amaryllidaceae. 



i. Aletris farinosa L. Star-grass. Ague 

 or Colic- root. Fig. 1276. 



Aletris farinosa L. Sp. PI. 319. 1753. 



Roots numerous, tough, scape ii-3 tall, 

 slender, terete, striate, bearing several or nu- 

 merous small distant bract-like leaves. Basal 

 leaves several, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 acuminate at the apex, narrowed to the base, 

 spreading, pale yellowish green, 2'-6' long, 

 3"-io" wide; raceme 4'-i2' long in flower, or 

 longer in fruit, dense, erect, pedicels i" long 

 or less ; bracts subulate, longer than the pedi- 

 cels, sometimes 2 to each flower ; perianth tubu- 

 lar-oblong, white, or the short lobes yellow- 

 ish, 3" -4' long, about ii" thick; style subulate; 

 capsule ovoid, about 2" long, loculicidal above, 

 each of its 3 valves tipped with a subulate por- 

 tion of the style. 



In dry, mostly sandy soil, Maine to Ontario and 

 Minnesota, south to Florida and Arkansas. As- 

 cends to 3500 ft. in Virginia. Ague-grass, Blazing- 

 star, Bitter-grass, Bitter-plant, Crow-corn. Mealy- 

 starwort. Aloe-, Star- or Husk-root. Unicorn- 

 root or -horn. May-July. 



Aletris aurea Walt., admitted into our first edi- 

 tion, is not certainly known to grow north of South 

 Carolina. It has been mistaken in New Jersey for yellowish-flowered races of A. farinosa. 



