MELONiAs. HEXANDRIA» TRIGYNIA. 369 



out glands. Styles 3, distinct. Capsule 3-celled, 

 3-horned ; cells few-seeded. Gen. pi 622. Nu t U 

 Gen, I. p. 234. Juss. p. 47. Lam. III. t. 268. 

 Nat. Ord. Junce^ Juss. Melanthace^ R. 

 Brown. 



1. H. lalifoUa Mich.', scape leafless; spike ovate, 

 crowded; bracts linear-lanceolate; leaves lanceolate, mu- 

 eronate, nerved. M ich. i^-/. I. p. 212. Purs h Fl. I. p. 

 ^42. H. bullata L. Willd. Spec. II. p. 273. BoL.Mag. 

 747. BoL Rep. 352. P luk. Aim. t. 174. f. 5. 



Flowers pale purple. Anthers blue. Fh. 



Hab. In shady swamps, on sandy soil. New-Jersey to Virgi- 

 nia. Pursh. In New-Jersey and Pennsylvania. Muh- 

 lenberg. May. 



2. H. erythrosperma M i c h. : scape leafy ; leaves linear, 

 very long; raceme oblong; bracts short; capsule shortened, 

 with divaricate horns ; se'eds ovate, red. Mich. Fl. I. p. 

 212. Pursh Fl.L^.--2i2. E lli oi t Sk. l.ip. 421. H. 

 lata Bot. Mag. 803. Melanthium laetum .^it, Kew. I. p. 

 488. Willd, Spec. II. p. 267. M. phalangioides L a m. 

 Enc. IV. p. 28. ^l. musc(zloxicum Walt. Car. T^. 125, An- 

 THERicuM subtrigynum J a cq. icon. rar. II. t. 419. 



Foot bulbous. Stem 2 feet high, leafy, obtusely angular, 

 simple, very smooth. Leaves a foot or more in length, 3 — 4 

 lines broad, mostlv radical, somewhat caricine. Raceme ter- 

 minal, 3—4 inches long, simple ; fiedicels nearly an inch m 

 lenglli, filiform, spreading; bractn cvate, obtuse. Flowers 

 one-fourth of an inch in diameter, white, becoming greenish 

 with age. Fetalu oblong, obluse, sessile. Stamens rather 

 longer than the ^o\\'ev?>; fitaments subulate, inserted at the 

 base of the petals; anthers white, roundish. Germens 3, su- 

 perior, divaricate at the summit ; stigmas siiort, simple, Caii- 

 sules 3, turgid, united at the base. tSeeds ovaie, covered with 

 a pulpy coat, which becomes bright scarltt when ripe. 



JIab. In shady moist situauons on river banks, and on high 

 mountains. Pennsylvania to Carolina. Purs h. June. 



This plant is a narcotic poison, and is used in the Southern 

 States for destroying flies. 



3. H. angusiifolia M i c h. : scape leafy ; leaves very long 

 and narrow; raceme oblong, lax; capsule oblong; seeds 

 linear. Mich. FL 1. p. 212. Pursh FL I. p. 243. 

 Elliott Sk. I. p. 421. 



Root fibrous, perennial. Stem about 2 feet high, terete, gla- 

 brous. Leaves very long, linear, acute, much narrower than 

 in the preceding species. Flowers in a terminal simple ra- 

 47 



