474 melantiiace^e. (colcuicum family.) 



die, exceeding the pointless anthers ; pod triangular-obovate, narrowed into a stalk 



— Low woods ; common. May. — Stein 6' - 9' high when in flower : the cream- 

 colored flower $' long. 



4. U. pisberula, Michx. Slightly puberulent ; leaves bright green both 

 sides, and shining, with rough edges; styles separate to near the base, not 

 exceeding the short-pointed anthers ; pod ovate, not stalked. — Mountains and 

 throughout the upper part of Virginia, and southward. 



2. PROSAKTES, Don. Prosartes. 



Perianth bell-shaped, much as in Uvularia. Filaments thread-like, much 

 longer than the linear-oblong blunt anthers, which are fixed near the base. 

 Ovary with 2 ovules suspended from the summit of each cell : styles united into 

 one : stigmas short, recurved-spreading. Berry ovoid or oblong, pointed, 3-6- 

 seeded, red. — Downy low herbs, divergently branched above, with closely sessile 

 ovate and membranaceous leaves, and greenish-yellow drooping flowers on slen- 

 der terminal peduncles, solitary or few in an umbel. (Name from npoaaprda, 

 to hang from, in allusion to the pendent ovules or flowers.) 



1. P. lanuginosa, Don. Leaves ovate-oblong, taper-pointed, rounded 

 or slightly heart-shaped at the base, closely sessile, downy underneath ; flowers 

 solitary or in pairs ; sepals linear-lanceolate, taper-pointed (^' long), soon spread- 

 ing, twice the length of the stamens, greenish; style smooth. (Streptopus 

 lanuginosus, Michx. ) — Rich woods, Western New York to Virginia, Kentucky. 

 and southward along the Alleghanies. May. 



3. STREPTOPUS, Michx. Twisted-Stalk. 



Perianth recurved-spreading from a bell-shaped base ; the sepals lanceolate- 

 acute, the 3 inner keeled. Anthers arrow-shaped, fixed near the base to the 

 short flattened filaments, tapering above to a slender entire or 2-cleft point. 

 Ovary with many ovules in each cell : styles united into one. Berry red, round- 

 ish-ovoid, many-seeded. — Herbs, with rather stout stems, divergently -spreading 

 branches, ovate and taper-pointed rounded-clasping membranaceous leaves, and 

 small (extra-) axillary flowers, either solitary or in pairs, on slender thread-like 

 peduncles, which are abruptly bent or contorted near the middle (whence the 

 name, from arpeirTos, twisted, and Trovs,foot, or stalk). 



1. S. aampiexifolius, DC. Leaves very smooth, glaucous underneath, 

 strongly clasping ; flower greenkh-white on a long peduncle abruptly bent above 

 the middle ; anthers tapering to a slender entire point ; stigma entire, truncate. 

 S.) distortus, Michx. Uvularia amplcxifolia, L.) — Cold and- moist woods, 

 Northern New England to the mountains of Penn., and northward. June. — 

 Stem 2° -3° high, rough at the base, otherwise very smooth. Sepals \' long. 



— In this, as in the next, the peduncles are opposite the leaves, rather than truly 

 axillary, and are bent round the clasping base underneath them : they are rarely 

 2-flowered. (Eu.) 



2. S. rdseus, Michx. Leaves green both sides, finely ciliate, and the branches 

 sparingly beset with short bristly hairs ; flower rose-purple, more than half the 



