499 
MELANTHACEJ2. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 
thread-like peduncles, which are abruptly bent or contorted near 
te mi e (whence the name, from arpem-os, twisted, and mis, 
foot , or stalk,) 
r nP,eXif6,iUS ’ ° C - L ‘ mes like the benches very 
ZX 'I T US Un ‘ " nC “ a ‘' Tet y 8lr °ngly clasping; flower greenish- 
while on a long peduncle abruptly bent above the middle; anthers 
,.lr, er ' nfe u , “ S , e T nd f enUre P ° int; sti S“ a ent ' re , truncate. (S. dis- 
“ V *' , UV J U 3 " a am P lexifolia > L ) ~ L «w cold woods, North- 
Stem^^K- J 1 ’ t W Y ° rk ’ a " d Pen " ’ northward. June. _ 
Stem 2° - 3° high, rough at the base, otherwise very smooth. Sepals 
Lh.r . !‘ 8 ’ “ the ° eXt ’ the P ed “ncles are opposite the leaves, 
ler than truly axillary, and are bent round the clasping base under- 
neath them : they are rarely 2-flowered. 
2. S. roseus, Michx. Leaves green both sides , the margins 
Jinely ciliute , and the branches sparingly beset with short bristly 
bans; Jloicer rose-purple , more than half the length of the slightly 
bent peduncle ; anthers 2-horned ; stigma minutely 3-cleft. — Cold 
damp woods, common northward and on mountain-sides. May. — 
Smaller than the foregoing. 
Suborder II. MELANTHIEiE. The true Colchicum Fam. 
^A'GrADENUS , Michx. Zygadenus. 
Flowers perfect. Perianth withering-persistent, spreading; the 
petal-like sessile oblong or ovate sepals marked with 2 contiguous 
or frequently confluent glands above the more or less narrowed 
base, united at the very base and coherent with that of the ovary. 
Stamens free from the sepals and about their length. Styles and 
pod nearly as in Melanthium. Seeds margined or slightly wing¬ 
ed.—Very smooth or glaucous perennials, with simple stems 
from creeping rootstocks or coated bulbs, linear grass-like leaves, 
and pretty large racemed-panicled greenish-white flowers. (Name 
composed of (vyos, a yoke, and ddrjv, a gland.) 
Z. glaliens, Nutt. Stem naked above, slender (1° high), 
from a coated bulb ; panicle simple, few-flowered; glands of the ob¬ 
tuse sepals united into one which is inversely heart-shaped._Grav¬ 
elly calcareous banks of the St. Lawrence, also at Niagara and west 
to Wisconsin northward : rare. July. 
MEEANTHIUM, Gronov., L. Melanthium. 
Flowers monceciously polygamous. Perianth of 6 separate and 
widely spreading somewhat heart-shaped sepals raised on slender 
