LILY FAMILY 41 



as long as stem, or longer. In and near swamps. Blooming 

 in spring. Fla. 



Tillandsia tenuif olia. Flowers blue, few, 1 in. long. Stem 

 6-12 in. long, unbranched. Leaves many, very narrow, often 

 reddish, 6-12 in. long. Hammocks and swamps. Blooming 

 in summer. Fla. and Ga. 



Tillandsia recnrvata. Small, gray, scurfy plants. Flow- 

 ers blue, ^/2 in. long, few. Stems 2-6 in. long. Not confined 

 to swamps. Blooming in summer. Fla. to Texas. 



LILY FAMILY (Liliaceae) 



Flowers 6-parted or 6-lobed, not differentiated into calyx and 

 corolla. Stamens 6. Fruit a capsule or a berry. 



Crow-Poison and Schoenocaulon (Genera Tracyanth/us 



and Schoenocaulon) 



The large lily family is divided into a number of tribes. 

 The division to which these plants belong includes several 

 species that contain a narcotic poison, and their bulbous 

 rootstocks are sometimes pounded to a paste and used as 

 the common names — fly-poison, crow-poison, etc. — indicate. 



The schoenocaulon's wandlike stems, though not con- 

 spicuous, are common in pinelands during late winter and 

 spring. The tiny green flowers, only about one-eighth 

 inch long, are given a purple tinge by the colored filaments 

 of the stamens. 



Very different in appearance is the crow-poison, Tra- 

 cyanthus, which merits a more attractive common name. 

 For a few weeks in early spring, in many localities, marshes 

 and low grounds between swamp and pineland are orna- 

 mented with its cylindrical white racemes. As the flowers 

 fade they change to pink or purple and remain on their 

 fluted pedicels while buds above them are opening in 

 pure white. The seeds ripen rapidly, and in a month from 



