404 MELANTHACEAE. 
2. Stenanthium robtstum §S. Wats. 
Stout Stenanthium. (Fig. 675.) 
Stenanthium robustum §. Wats. Proc. Am. 
Acad. 14: 278. 1879. 
Stem stout, 3°-5° tall, usually very leafy. 
Leaves often 1° long or more, the lower 4/’— 
10’’ wide, the upper reduced to bracts; pan- 
icle denser than that of the preceding species, 
commonly longer, usually compound, its 
branches spreading or ascending; flowers 
greenish or white, 6’’-8’” broad; capsule 
ovoid-oblong, 4/’-6’’ long, erect, longer than 
its pedicel, the very short beaks recurved- 
spreading. 
In moist soil, southern Pennsylvania and Ohio 
to South Carolina and Tennessee. July-Sept. 
8. ZYGADENUS Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 213. 1803. 
Glabrous erect perennial herbs, from bulbs or rootstocks, with leafy stems. Leaves 
narrowly linear. Flowers perfect or polygamous, greenish, yellowish or white, in a terminal 
panicle or raceme. Perianth withering-persistent, its segments lanceolate or ovate, separate 
or united below, sometimes adnate to the lower part of the ovary, bearing 1 or 2 glands or a 
spot just above the narrowed base. Stamens free from the perianth segments and about 
equalling them in length; anthers cordate or reniform. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled, the cavi- 
ties not diverging, dehiscent to the base. Seeds several or numerous in each cavity, oblong 
or linear, angled. [Greek, referring to the two glands of some species. ] 
About 10 species, natives of North America and Mexico, 1 in Siberia. 
Plant with a thick rootstock; glands of the perianth-segments 2, orbicular. 1. Z. glaberrimus. 
Plants bulbous; gland only 1, sometimes faint or a mere spot. 
Gland distinctly obcordate; perianth-segments 4'’-5'' long. 2. Z. elegans. 
Gland not obcordate; perianth-segments 2'’—4’’ long. ; 
Gland with a poorly defined or irregular margin; perianth free from the ovary; western 
species 
roa 
Leaves 3''-8'' wide; flowers mostly perfect. 3. Z. Nuttalliz. 
Leaves 2'’-3'' wide; flowers polygamous. 4. Z. venenosus. 
Gland a mere yellow spot; perianth adnate to the ovary; eastern coast species. 
5. Z. leimanthotdes. 
1. Zygadenus glabérrimus Michx. 
Large-flowered Zygadenus. (Fig. 976.) 
Zygadenus glaberrimus Michx. Fl. Bor, Am. 1: 
214. 1803. 
Rather dark green, slightly glaucous, stem 
stout, 2°-4° tall, from a thick rootstock. Leaves 
3//-6”’ wide, long-acuminate, channelled, often 
1° long or more, the upper gradually smaller, 
appressed, passing into the short ovate bracts of 
the panicle; panicle 6’-12’ long, its branches 
rather stout, stiff, ascending; panicle 6/—12’ 
long, its branches rather stout, stiff, ascending; 
pedicels stout, longer than the bractlets; flowers 
white, mostly perfect, 1/-114’ broad, perianth- 
segments lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, nar- 
rowed into a short claw, bearing 2 orbicular 
glands; styles subulate; capsule narrowly ovoid, 
shorter than the perianth. 
In swamps, Virginia to Florida, near the coast. 
July—Sept. 
