310 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



3. TOFIELDIA Huds. Bog-asphodel. 



Plants witli short rootstocks; leaves linear; flowers small, white, in dense recemes, 

 each flower with 3 bractlets at the base of the calyx; petals without glands, persisting 

 on the fruit; fruit a many-seeded capsule. 

 Stem very sticky above with short gland -tipped hairs; flower stem leafy. 



1. T. intermedia. 

 Stem glabrous; flower stem naked 2. T. palustris. 



1. Tofieldia intermedia Rydb. Large bog-asphodel. Abundant in wet meadows 

 and along brooks above timber line; occasionally found in cool wet places at lower 

 altitudes. Alaska to Calif., Wyo., and Sask.— Stems 10 to 30 cm. high, often tinged 

 with purple; leaves 5 to 20 cm. long, 2 to 5 mm. wide; petals 4 to 5 mm. long; capsule 

 5 mm. long. 



Some plants in exposed places are only 2.5 to 5 cm. high. Bog-asphodel is con- 

 spicuous in flower, "or when bearing its showy purplish capsules. 



2. Tofieldia palustris Huds. Small bog-asphodel. Frequent about Gunsight 

 Pass, in rocky places along brooks. Alaska, B. C, and Mont, to Minn., Que., and 

 Greenl.; also in Eur. — Stems 4 to 15 cm. high; leaves all at the base of the stem, 

 2 to 10 cm. long. 



Rydberg, in the Flora of the Rocky Mountains, apparently does not report this 

 species from the western United States, but it has been reported from Glacier Park 

 previously by Jones. 



4. ZYGADENUS Michx. 



Plants glabrous, with bulbs; leaves linear, mostly basal; flowers in racemes or 

 panicles, stalked; petals and sepals each with a gland at the base; fruit a capsule. 



Petals 6 to 8 mm. long 1. Z. elegans. 



Petals 4 to 5 mm. long 2. Z. paniculatus. 



1. Zygadenus elegans Pursh. Poison camas. Common, especially at high and 

 middle altitudes; apparently rather scarce on the west slope; in woods, bogs, or 

 moist meadows, sometimes on rock slides. Alaska to Nev., N. Mex., and N. Dak. 

 (Z. alpinus Blankinship; Anticlea alpina Heller; A. elegans Rydb.) — Plants usually 

 10 to 40 cm. high, often forming dense clumps, the stems naked or leafy only at the 

 base; leaves 6 to 25 cm. long; flowers greenish white or pale greenish yellow, in 

 racemes or panicles. 



The plants are poisonous -to stock. They are most abundant above timber line. 

 Plants of alpine localities (Z. alpinus Blankinship) are not as tall as those of low 

 altitudes, and their flowers are often slightly smaller, but they grade insensibly into 

 the larger form. Plants growing along the creek at St. Mary were 90 cm. high and 

 had remarkably large panicles. The petals and sepals persist in fruit. 



2. Zygadenus paniculatus (Nutt.) S. Wats. Death camas. Collected on plains 

 at east entrance by Umbach. Wash, to Calif., N. Mex., and Mont. (Toxicoscordion 

 paniculatum Rydb.) — Plants 30 to 60 cm. high; leaves 20 to 40 cm. long, 5 to 10 

 mm. wide-; flowers in racemes or panicles, yellowish white. 



The plant is poisonous if eaten. 



5. VERATB.UM L. 



1. Veratrum viride Ait. False hellebore. Common at nearly all altitudes, in 

 woods or on open slopes. B. C. to Oreg. and Mont. (V. eschschoUzianum Rydb.) — 

 Stems 1 to 2 meters high, from thick rootstocks, somewhat hairy; leaves numerous, 

 10 to 30 cm. long, oblong to oval, sessile and sheathing at the base, with numerous 

 conspicuous parallel veins; flowers panicled, the branches of the panicle drooping; 

 petals 8 to 10 mm. long, without glands. 



A very conspicuous plant, in the Rocky Mountain region sometimes erroneously 

 known as skunkcabbage. In 1919 very few individuals were seen in flower. The 



