490 MELANTHACEJE. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 
oles ; panicle slender, long and spreading, loosely flowered ; leaves of the peri- 
anth grcenish, spatulate, smooth, rather shorter than the pedicels, twice as long 
as the stamens; ovary smooth. — Mountains of North Carolina. July.— Stem 
2?-5? high. Lowest leaves 9'—12'long. Flowers 4/! —5/! wide. 
8. AMIANTHIUM, Gray. Frx-Poisox. 
Flowers perfect. Leaves of the perianth oblong or obovate, sessile, spreading, 
Elandless, shorter than the slender stamens. Anthers kidney-shaped, becoming 
peltate. Styles slender: stigmas minute. Capsule membranaceous, 3-lobed, 
the cells separating and opening down the inner suture, few-seeded. Seeds 
oblong or linear, wingless. — Stems simple, smooth, tumid or bulbous at the 
base, scape-like above. Lowest leaves long and crowded. Flowers white, ina 
simple raceme. 
1. A. museztoxioum, Gray. Stem bulbous at the base, somewhat _ 
angled ; lowest leaves strap-shaped, obtuse, channelled, the uppermost small 
and bract-like ; raceme cylindrical, densely flowered ; leaves of the perianth 
oblong, nearly equalling the stamens; styles spreading; seeds ovoid, red. 
(Helonias erythrosperma, Michx.) — Rich woods, Florida, and northward. May 
and June. — Stem 1°-2° high. Flowers small, turning greenish. ; 
2. A. angustifolium, Gray. Stem tumid at the base, slender, terete; 
leaves linear, acute, channelled, somewhat glaucous, the lowest very long, the 
uppermost small and bract-like ; raceme oblong, mostly densely flowered ; leaves 
of the perianth oval, shorter than the stamens; styles erect; seeds — 
(Helonias angustifolia, Michz.) — Low pine barrens, Florida to North Carolina. 
.May and June. — Stem 29 high. Flowers turning purple. 
3. A.P aspericaule, Gray. Stem and flowers pulverulent-roughened ; 
stem-leaves linear-lanceolate, flat; flowers in a small (2! long) spike-like panicle, 
composed of spiked racemes. — Near Columbia, South Carolina, Curtis. — Plant 
imperfectly known. Mm 
> 
9. SCHŒNOCAULON, Gray. 
Flowers perfect. Leaves of the perianth somewhat spreading, linear-oblong, 
glandless; filaments subulate, at length twice as long as the perianth : anthers 
kidney-shaped, becoming peltate. Ovary 6~8-ovuled. Styles very short: stig- 
_ mas minute. Capsule and seeds unknown. — Scape very slender, bulbous at the; 
base. Leaves all radical, very long and narrow, dry, channelled. Flowers small, 
pale green, crowded in a slender spike. : ; 
X. S. gracilis, Gray. (Helonias? dubia, Michr.) — Dry sands, Georgia 
and Florida. April and May. — Leaves 19—20 long, scarcely 1” wide. i tf 
2° -3° high, rushlike. Spike 3/—4' long. : 
10. XEROPHYLLUM, Michx. | 
eaves of the perianth widely spreading, 
