500 melanthaceas. (colchicum family.) 
claws, marked with 2 approximate glands, cream-colored, turning 
greenish-brown and persistent. Filaments shorter than the peri¬ 
anth, adhering to the claws, persistent. Styles awl-shaped, di¬ 
verging, tipped with simple stigmas. Pod ovoid-conical, 3-lobed, 
of 3 inflated membranaceous carpels united in the axis, separating 
when ripe and splitting down the inner edge, several-seeded. 
Seeds flat, broadly winged. — Tall perennials, with simple stems 
from a somewhat bulbous base, roughish-downy above, as well as 
the open and ample pyramidal panicle (composed chiefly of simple 
racemes). Leaves lanceolate-linear, grass-like, those from the 
root broader. (Name composed of pekas, black , and avQos , flower, 
from the dark color which the persistent perianth assumes after 
blossoming.) (Leimanthium, Willd.; Gray , Melanth. See Sill. 
Jour. 42, p. 27.) 
1. 3TI. \ irgtnicnm, L. Sepals ovate-halbert-shaped, becom¬ 
ing oblong, flat, the glands distinct; filaments cohering with the claws 
beyond the middle. —Wet meadows, Southern New York to Ohio, 
rare, and common southward. July. —Stem 3°-4° high: flowers 
about broad. 
2. hybrid(im, Walt. Sepals round-rhombic or broadly 
ovate, wavy, the glands contiguous ; filaments involved in the lower 
part of the involute claws. — Low grounds, Orange county, New York, 
and westward, common southward. July-Sept. — Flowers rather 
smaller and greener than in No. 1. 
<*• VERATBIJM, Tourn. False Hellebore. 
Flowers polygamous. Perianth of 6 spreading and separate 
obovate-oblong (greenish or brownish) sepals, more or less con¬ 
tracted at the base, not gland-bearing. Filaments free from the 
sepals and shorter than they, recurving. Pistils, fruit, &c., nearly 
as in Melanthium. — Somewhat pubescent perennials, with simple 
stems from a thickened base producing coarse fibrous roots, plait¬ 
ed 3-ranked leaves, and racemed-panicled dull or dark flowers. 
(Name compounded of vere, truly, and ater , black.) 
Ait. (American White Hellebore. Indian 
Poke.) Stem stout, very leafy to the top (2°-4° high); leaves broad¬ 
ly oval, pointed, sheath-clasping, strongly plaited; panicle pyrami¬ 
dal, the dense spike-like racemes spreading, perianth yellowish-green, 
moderately spreading. — Swamps and low grounds, common. June. 
— Root very poisonous. 
