Class XXIII. Order I. 



particularly entitled to the attention of agriculturalists. It is a 

 thriving, and early grass, being usually in flower by the mid- 

 dle of May. It is sweet and tender, and in drying exhales a 

 fragrant odour, not interior to that of the sweet scented Vernal 

 grass. Its native place of growth is in wet, boggy meadows, 

 Avhcre it might be usefully substituted for the coarse and ordin- 

 ary grasses usually obtained from those soils. 



279. ATRIPLEX. 

 ATRIPI.EX TATULA. L. Spreading Crache. 



Stem herbaceous, spreading ; leaves deltoid- 

 lanceolate, somewhat hastate ; calyx of the seed 

 somewhat muricate on the disc. 8m. 



Stem spreading, very much branched. Leaves powdery 

 underneath, the lower ones mostly hastate, the upper ones lan- 

 ceolate. Racemes axillary and terminal. The seed is enclos- 

 ed between two large, triangular valves, furnished on their back 

 with an irregular number of short, conical points. Salt marsh^ 

 cs. August. Annual. 



280. VERATRUM. 

 VERATKUM VIRIDE. Mt. Poke root. Swamp Hellebore. 



Racemes panicled ; bractes of the branches ob" 

 long-lanceolate ; peduncles pubescent, shorter than 

 the partial bractes, 



A large, green, leafy plant, not unfrequent in meadows and 

 swamps. Stem erect, straight, often three or four feet high. 

 Leaves numerous, large, oval or lanceolate, acuminate, entire, 

 plaited and finely nerved, sheathing the stem with their base. 

 Flowers in a large panicle, with pubescent branches, each 

 branch and flower stalk supported by a narrow bracte. Corolla 

 of six greenish, oblong, acute petals, thickened on each side at 



base. Capsules three. June, Perenniah 



