Teratrum. CLV. MELANTHACEJE. 557 



ancnts unguiculate, with 2 glands at base, the claws bearing the sta- 

 mens ; ovary often abortive ; capsule esserted, subovoid, summit tri- 

 ifid and tipped with the 3 persistent styles ; seeds margined. — St. 

 erect, puberulerU above. Lvs. aUernate, narrow. Fanide terminal. 



J. M. ViRGiNicHM. (Leimanthium. W'dUl. Veratrum. Ait. Helonias.) 

 I/Z-s. linear-lanceolate ; panide pjTamidal ; segments of the j^e'rianth sub- 

 orbic.ilar, hastate or auriculate at base. — Native of wet meadows and margins 

 of swamps, N. Y. to Flor. Stem 3 — 4i high, leafy. Lea ve.s about a foot long, 

 and i a inch wide, sessile on a contracted and subclasping base. Flowers green- 

 ish-y How, becoming brown, on short pedicels, arranged in simple, alternate 

 racenes, and together constituting a pyramidal panicle 10 — 15' in length. 

 Liowtr flowers generally sterile. July, Aug. 



2. M. HYBRiDDM. Walt. (Leimauthium. Roem. <^' Sck.) 

 Lvs. long-linear-lanceolate, upper ones few and short; panvicle long, of 

 •simp' 3 racemes, pedicels fHitbrm, much longer than the flowers ; segments of the 

 ^er(«i(iA narrowly unguiculate, roundish-rhomboidal; glands connivent; claws 

 chan leled, stameniferous below the middle. — Woods, Penn. to Ga. ! Stem 2 — 

 4f hi ;h, somewhat leafy. Leaves varying from lanceolate-linear to lanceolate, 

 *he lowest contracted to the base or subpetiolate, shorter than the stem. Perianth 

 very open, yellowish-green, segments acuminate, the long claws adhering to 

 .and involving the filaments. June, July. 



/?. rob^bstior. Gray. JLower lvs. lanceolate-oval; loicer branches paniculate, 

 comj 3und. 



3. VERATRUM. 



Lat. vcre, atrvm, truly black ; al'uding to tlie dark color of the flowers cr root. 



F'owers by abortion (^5 9; segments of the perianth united at 

 ibase petaloid, spreading, sessile and without glands ; sta. 6, shortei 

 than the perianth and inserted on its base ; ovaries 3, united at base, 

 ■oftei . abortive • styles short ; capsule 3-lobed, 3-partible, 00-seeded. 

 — Lm. alternate., broad oMd 'plicate, or narrow and grass-like. FL. 

 ^ani 'vlale. 



1. V. VI RIDE. (V. album. Michx.) PoJca. li^iie Hellebore. 



Lvs. broad-oval, aeuniinaie.; panicle compound, racemose; bracts oblorvg- 

 lane olate, bracteoies longer than the downy pedicels. — Can. to Ga. — A large- 

 leavi i, coarse-looking plant, of our meadows and swamps. Root large, fleshy, 

 with numerous long fibres. Stem 2 — 4f high, striate and pubescent Leaves 

 strorgly veined and plaited, the lowest near a foot long and half as wide, 

 shea hing at the base. Flov.'ers numerous, green, in m_any axillary (ov bractedj 

 xacejaes, v;hich together form a very large, pyramidal, terminal panicle. July. 

 The foot is emetic and stimulant, but poisonous, and should be used v/ith cau- 

 tion. When powdered it causes violent sneezing. 



2. V. WooDii. Robbins. (Nov. sp.) Indiana Veratrum. 



Lvs. mostly radical, lanceolate and linear-lanceolate, glabrous, veined and 

 plicate, acute, tapering to a long, v/inged, sheathing petiole ; st. or scape terete, 

 tall, ;rect,' with remote, lance-linear bracts; panicle sim_ple, slender, pyramidal, 

 man '-flowered; /5, (^ CJ , subsessile; segments of perianth oblanceolate, dark 



blacj:, with red stamens, upper and lov/er sterile. Qvary oblong, crowned with 

 Z sp.. eading styles half its length. Seeds cempressed, winged with the broad, 

 loos',, -membranous testa. July. 



3. V. ANGu.sTiFGi.iuM. Pursh- Grass-lcavcd Verairmn. 



Lvs. narrowly linear, flat, very long, lowest obtuse, upper ones diminish- 

 ing to subulate bracts ; fls. in a slender panicle of racemes, those of the termi- 

 nal raceme (except a iew of the highest) perfect and fertile, those of the lateral 

 racemes mostly sterile; scgtnents narrowly lanceolate, subuJate, acuminate. — A 



