MELANTHiuM. HEXANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 36? 



claws staminiferous. Capsule subovate, 3-celled ; apex 

 partly trifid. Seeds numerous, membranaceously 

 wine;ed. Gen. pi. 618. Nutt. Gew. I. p. 232. Juss. 

 p. 47. Lam. III. t. CCLXIX. Nat. Ord. Junce^ 

 Juss, Mel ANTKACEJE E. Brown. 



l.M,virginicvm L. : panicle pyramidal; petals oval, 

 somewhat hastate, flat; flowers mostly perfect. Willd. 

 Spec, II. p. 266. L a m. Enc. IV. p. 25. Mich. Ft. I. p. 

 251. Pursh Fl. I. p. 240. Elliott Sk. I. p. 418. 

 Helonias virginica Bot. Mag. 9B5. M. foliis linearibus in- 

 tegerrimis longissimis, <SiC. Gron. Virg 39. P luk. AmaL 

 p. 40. t. 434. f. 8. ? 



Root — . Stem 3 feet high, erect, terete, minutely pubescent, 

 lealy. Leaves a ifoot or more in length, and about half an inch 

 broad, sheathing at the base, smooth. Panicle a foot long, 

 compound, loose ; branches alternate. Pedicels three-fourths 

 of an inch long, with ovate obtuse bracts at the base. Flowers 

 polygamo-dioecious, more than half an inch in diameter. Pe^ 

 tain greenish-white, becoming brown with age, persistent, au» 

 riculate or subliastate at the base, which is marked with glan- 

 dular oval spots. Stamens shorter than the corolla, and inserted 

 into its narrow claws, which appear to be folded round their 

 base ; anthers oblong-reniform ; styles 3, short, spreading, per- 

 sistent ; stigmas simple. Ca/isule superior, a little S-cleft at 

 the summit, and then 3-horned, triangular ; cells 3 — 6-seeded. 

 Seeds oval, compressed, wuh a winged margin. 

 Hab In wet meadows. Near Elizabethtown, New-Jersey. 

 Eddy. In Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg. July— Au- 

 gusu 



2. M. glaucum Jiutt, : root a tunicated bulb ; leaves 

 glaocGus, gramineous, margined ; raceme mostly simple, (evr- 

 flowered ; flowers perfect ; petals roundish, ungujculate, with 

 5 spots; seeds subulately winged. J^ utt. Gen. I. p. 232. 



About a foot high. Raceme sometimes a little divided at the 

 base. Flowers whitish. J\fu 1 1. 



Hab. On the gravelly banks of the St, Lawrence, in calcareous 

 soil, and on the borders of Lake Erie. July— August. JVu t- 

 talL . 



According to Mr. JVu ttall, this species is also found on 

 the borders of Lakes Huron and Michigan, and up the Mis- 

 souri to Fort Mandan. 



3. M. hyhridum Walt. : panicle racemose ; petals sub- 

 orbicular, plaited, with lon^ claws, glands connate. Walt. 

 Car.p.l25. P u r s fe F/. I. 242. £ //i o H S^. L p. 419, 

 M. racemosum M i c h. Fl. II, p. 251. 



Stem 2 feet high, terete, slightly striate, leafy. Leaves long-linear. 



