306 



LlLIACEAE 



Zigadenus 



50 



Map 630 



Zigadenus glaucus Nutt 



Map 631 

 Melanthium virginicum L. 



one has made this a mere form of the preceding. Robert Ridgway was 

 interested in this problem and wrote me concerning it. He was firmly 

 convinced that the two species are distinct. I quote, in part, from his letter 

 to me dated January 13, 1925, Olney, Illinois: "I have several of the former 

 (Stenanthium gramineum) transplanted from the "wilds hereabout" and 

 one of the latter (Stenanthium robustum) from the Highland Nursery, 

 North Carolina. They are planted near together, in identical soil, and all 

 local conditions governing them are the same. The first blooms from June 

 21 to July 11 (average date July 1) ; while the last blooms from August 

 1-24 (average date August 18), a difference of more than six weeks." 



The specific name for this species seems to be well chosen, since the 

 whole plant is larger and more robust in all of its parts. The leaves are 

 wider, the floral segments longer, the fruit longer, and the stigmas slightly 

 longer. The width of the leaves and the position of the mature fruit are 

 sufficient to distinguish the species. Since I found both species in the same 

 colony I am not entirely satisfied that there are two species of our plants 

 but until sufficient data are accumulated I believe it is best to separate 

 them, placing them in the taxonomic category which the differences suggest. 



Pa. and Ind., southw. to S. C, Tenn., and Mo. 



958. ZIGADENUS Michx. 



1. Zigadenus glaucus Nutt. (Rhodora 37: 256-258. 1935.) (Zigadenus 

 chloranthus of Gray, Man., ed. 7, not Richardson, and Anticlea elegans 

 of Britton and Brown, Illus. Flora, ed. 2.) Map 630. This species 

 is rare and local. I found a few plants in a marly place in the large swamp 

 in a woods about 3 miles northwest of Hoover, Cass County. In Lagrange 

 County I found a number of specimens in a marsh of about an eighth of 

 an acre surrounded by young tamarack ; the area where it was found was 

 probably too alkaline for the tamarack, although I found it in a similar 

 position but in a very small opening in a tamarack bog about a mile and a 

 half southeast of Mongo. I have seen it in only two other places, and 



