LILY FAMILY. 343 



9. VERATRUM, FALSE HELLEBORE. (Old name, from Latin vere 

 ater, truly black.) Mostly pubescent stout herbs ; the roots yield the acrid 

 poisonous veratrin. Flowers summer. 



V. viride, American White Hellebore, or Indian Poke. Swamps, 

 mostly N. : stout stem 2° -4° high, thickly beset with the broadly oval or ovate 

 strongly plaited sheath-clasping leaves ; panicle of spike-like racemes pyramidal ; 

 flowers yellowish-green turning greener with age. 



V. parviflorum, along the Alleghanies, is slender, 2° - 5° high, with scat- 

 tered oval or lanceolate scarcely plaited leaves below, and a long and loose pan- 

 icle of greenish small flowers turning dingy or brownish with age. 



10. MELANTHIUM. (Name, from the Greek, means black flower, the 



perianth turning darker, yet not black.) Fl. summer. 



M. Virginieum, Bunch-flower. Moist grounds, from S. New York 

 S. & W. : 3° - 5° high ; lowest leaves sometimes 1 ' wide, the upper few and 

 small ; flowers rather large. 



11. ZYGADENUS. (Name in Greek means z/o^-erfya?ic?s.) Fl. summer. 

 Z. glab^rrimus. Pine barren bogs S. : 1° - 3° high, from a running root- 

 stock ; leaves i-ather rigid, keeled, nerved, taper-pointed; panicle many-flowered; 

 divisions of perianth ^' long, a pair of round spots above the narrowed base. 



Z. glaucus. Bogs along our N. borders : l°-3° high, from a bulb ; leaves 

 flat, pale ; flowers rather few ; base of perianth coherent with that of the ovary, 

 the divisions marked with an inversely heart-shaped spot. 



12. UVULARIA, BELL WORT. (Name from the Latin uvula, or palate; 

 the application obscure.) Stems 6' -2° high, naked below, leafy above: fl. 

 spring. All in rich woods. 



* Leaves oblong, the base clasping round the stem lohich seems to run through the 



blade just above its base (Lessons, p. 67, fig. 131) : pod 3-lobed: rootstock 

 very short and erect. 



U. grandiflbra, the common one from W. New England W. : with pale 

 gi'eenish-yellow flower 1 ^' long and smooth or nearly so inside. 



U. perfoliata, common E. & S. : smaller, with sharper tips to the an- 

 thers, and the parts of the barely yellowish perianth granular-roughened inside. 



U. fl^va, chiefly N. E., with bright yellow flower about 1' long, and nearly 

 smooth inside. 



* * Leaves not surrounding the stem, merely sessile: rootstock creeping: pod 



sharply triangular. 



»U". sessilifolia, common, especially N. : 6'- 12' high, with pale lance-ob- 

 long leaves, and whitish cream-colored flower |' long ; pod stalked. 



13. CLINTONIA. (Named for DeWilt Clinton of New York.) Cold 



moist woods : flowers early summer. 



C. borealis. Only N. and along the mountains; flowers 2-7, greenish 

 yellow, over j' long ; berry rather many-seeded. 



C. umbellata. Along the Alleghanies ; flowers numerous, ^' long, white 

 speckled with green or purplish dots ; seeds only 2 in each cell. 



14. PROSARTES. (Name from Greek word meaning /ian^/jn^r.) 



P. Iauugin6sa. Rich woods the whole length of the Alleghany region to 

 Canada : branches widely spreading ; leaves ovate-oblong, pointed, rounded or 

 slightly heart-shaped at the sessile base ; flowers ^' long, greenish ; style with 3 

 stigmas : fl. late spring. 



15. STREPTOPUS, TWISTED-STALK (which the name denotes in 

 Greei;). In cold damp or wet woods N. : flowers in late spring and early 

 summer, small, barely ^' long. 



