32 FOUNDATIONS OF BOTANY 



I. VERATRUM, Toum. 



Simple-stemmed perennials. Roots fibrous, from the thick- 

 ened base of the stem, poisonous, emetic. Leaves 3-ranked, 

 plaited, and veiny. Flowers panicled, greenish, or brownish. 

 Sepals 6, spreading, nearly free from the ovary. Stamens 

 shorter than the perianth, and inserted on its base. Ovary of 

 3 carpels united at base. . Fruit a few-seeded capsule, splitting 

 into 3 parts. 



1. V. viride, Ait. White Hellebore, Indian Poke. Stem 

 stout, 2-7 ft. high, very leafy. Flowers very numerous, in a panicle, 

 composed of spike-like racemes. Sepals yellowish-green. Wet 

 meadows and brooksides. 



2. V. Woodii, Robbins. Stem slender, 2-5 ft. high, not very leafy. 

 Flowers in a long, narrow panicle. Sepals gTeenish-pui'ple or almost 

 black. Woods and dry hillsides. 



II. CHAM^LIRIUM, Willd. 



Rootstock short and thick, bitter. Stem simple, erect, leafy, 

 smooth. Lower leaves spatulate to obovate, the stem-leaves 

 narrower. Flowers small, white, in a spike-like raceme, 

 dioecious. Perianth of 6 lihear-spatulate segments. Stamens 

 6, filaments longer than the perianth. Ovary 3-celled, styles 

 3. Fruit an ovoid, 3-angled, many-seeded capsule.* 



1. C. carolinianuiR, Willd. Unicorn-root, Devil's Bit. Stem 

 furrowed, staminate plants 1-2 ft. high, pistillate taller, often 3 ft. 

 or more. Lower leaves obovate, clustered, the upper small and 

 bract-like. Staminate racemes slender and drooping, the pistillate 

 erect. Flowers short-pediceled. Capsule 3-valved, seeds linear- 

 oblong, winged at the ends. On low ground.* 



III. AMIANTHIUM, Gray. 



Stem simple, glabrous, erect from a bulbous base. Leaves 

 long and slender. Flowers white, in a simple terminal raceme, 

 perfect. Perianth of 6 segments which are sessile and gland- 

 less. Stamens 6, inserted in the base of the perianth. Ovary 

 3-lobed, 3-celled, fruit a dehiscent, 3-lobed capsule, the lobes 

 becoming awl-shaped by the persistent style bases ; cells few- 

 seeded.* 



