PHALANGiuM. HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 347 



on the latter of which it was found by Mr. JVu ttalt^ near 

 its confluence with Huron River. According to this learned 

 Botanist, its geographical range from east to west is more than 

 2000 miles, but from north to south scarcely more than 300. 

 Its bulbous roots are a favourite article of diet with the tribes 

 of Indians near the Rocky Mountains. 



240. NARTHECIUM. Hudson. 



Corolla interior, 6-petalled, spreading, persistent. 

 Filaments filiform, hairy. Capsule prismatic, 3-celledj 

 many-seeded. Seed finely attenuated at each extre- 

 mity. Calyx 0. Sin it h "FL Brit, I. p. 368. Nutt. 

 Gen. I. p. 220. Lain. III. t, 266o Nat. Ord, 



JUNCE^ Jn SS. 



N. americanum K e r : raceme sometimes interruptedly 

 spiked, lax ; pedicels with a setaceous bract below the flower, 

 and another embracing its base ; filaments with very short 

 hair. K er in Bot. Mag. 1505. Pursh FL I. p. 227. 

 Jf utt. Gen. \, c/ Phalangium ossifragum Muhl. Cat, p. 

 35. 



Root creeping and fibrous. Leaves nunierous, all radical, nar- 

 row-ensiform, striate, very smooth, of a yellowish-green co- 

 lour. Scafie ascending, about a foot high, simple, terete, with 

 2 — 3 remote subulate bracts. Sfiike about 3 inches long, ter- 

 minal, straight ; pedicels sometimes in twos and threes, half 

 an inch long. Petals yellow within, greenish externally, per- 

 sistent, linear-oblong. Stamens a little shorter than the co- 

 rolla ; filaments clothed with short wool ; anthers linear, yel- 

 low. Germen oblong, attenuate at the extremity ; stigma 

 small, subsessile. Capsule as long again as the corolla, ob- 

 tusely angular, yellowish, rigid, splitting imperfectly into 3 

 valves. Seeds numerous, as long as the capsule, with a subu- 

 late process at each extremity. 



Hab. In sandy swamps of the pine barrens of New-Jersey. 

 August. 



Scarcely distinct, except in the position of the bracts, from 

 the Narthecium ossifragum of Ei^rope. 



241. ORNITHOGALUM. L. 



Corolla 6-petalled, persistent, spreading above the 

 midcile. Calyx 0. Filaments dilated at the base. 

 Capsule superior, roundish, 3-celled. Seeds roundish, 

 naked. Gen. pi. 566. Nutt. Gen. I. p. 221. 

 Jus s. p. 53. L a m. III. t. 242. Nat. Ord. Aspho- 

 B E L E .« Jus s. Star of Bethlehem. 



