496 
MELANTHACE2E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 
distinct styles. (Anthers introrse in Tofieldia. Styles 
sometimes perfectly united in Uvularieae.) Seeds anatro- 
pous, with a soft or membranous seed-coat, and a small em¬ 
bryo in copious albumen. — If we include the Bellworts, 
which form a group ambiguous between this order, Trillia- 
cese, and Liliaceoe, we shall have 2 strongly marked subor¬ 
ders, viz. 
Suborder I. UVULARIEAE. The Bellwort Family. 
Perianth early deciduous, the sepals distinct, petal-like. Styles 
united into one at the base or throughout! Fruit a 3-celled few-seed- 
ed berry or loculicidal pod. — Stems from small perennial rootstocks 
and fibrous roots, forking, bearing ovate or lanceolate membranaceous 
sessile or clasping leaves like those of Solomon’s Seal, and perfect 
flowers: peduncles solitary or 1-flowered. 
1. Uvularia. Pod 3-angular or 3-lobed. Anthers linear, adnate, on 
short filaments. 
2. Prosartes. Berry ovoid. Anthers linear-oblong, pointless, fix¬ 
ed near the base to the long filament. Flowers terminal. 
3. Streptopus. Berry oblong. Anthers arrow-shaped, 1-2-point- 
ed, longer than the filament. Flowers axillary. 
Suborder II. MELANTHIEaE. The TRUE COLCHICUM FaM- 
Perianth mostly persistent or withering away; the sepals distinct 
or rarely their claws united. Styles 3, separate. Fruit a 3-celled 3- 
partible or septicidal, rarely loculicidal, pod. — Herbs with acrid poi¬ 
sonous properties; the simple or rarely panicled stems springing from 
so i bulbs or corras, or sometimes from creeping rootstocks. Flow¬ 
ers sometimes polygamous or dioecious. 
* Anthers heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, confluently 1-celled, shield- 
shaped after opening: pod 3-horned, septicidal: seeds flat, mem- 
branaceous-margined. 
Sepals each with 2 separate or confluent glands. 
• Zygadenus. Flowers perfect. Filaments free from the sessile 
sepals. 
a Ielanthium. Flowers polygamous. Filaments on the claws. 
Sepals without glands, sessile. 
o. veratrum. Flowers polygamous, panicled. Perianth free from 
_ 0 the ovar y : obovate or oblong, longer than the stamens. 
'' Stenanthium. Flowers polygamous, in compound racemes. 
Perianth united with the base of the ovary: sepals lanceo¬ 
late, pointed, longer than the stamens. 
