476 MELANTHACEJS. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



base of the ovary, the thin ovate or obovate sepals marked with a large obcordate 

 viand. (Anticlea glauca, Kunth.) — Banks of the St. Lawrence, New York, to 

 N. Illinois and northward : rare. July. 



# * Glands of the perianth obscure. (Here also Amianthiuni Nuttallii, Gray.) 

 3. Z. lciBBiantBioidcs. Stem l°-4°high from a somewhat bulbous 

 base, slender ; leaves narrowly linear ; flowers small (4" in diameter) and nu- 

 merous, in a few crowded panicled racemes ; perianth free, the obovate sepals 

 with a yellowish glandular discoloration on the contracted base. (Amianthium 

 leimanthoides, Gray.) — Low grounds, pine-barrens of New Jersey (Durand, 

 Knieskern), Virginia, and southward. July. 



6. STE1VANTHIUI, Gray (under Veratrum). 



Flowers polygamous or perfect. Perianth spreading ; the sepals narrowly 

 lanceolate, tapering to a point from the broader base, where they are united and 

 coherent with the base of the ovaiy, not gland-bearing, persistent, much longer 

 than the short stamens. Pods, &c. nearly as in Veratrum. Seeds nearly wing- 

 less. — Smooth, with a wand-like leafy stem from a somewhat bulbous base, 

 long and grass-like conduplicate-keeled leaves, and numerous small flowers in 

 compound racemes, forming a long terminal panicle. (Name composed of 

 oTfvos, narrow, and avdos-, flower, from the slender sepals and panicles.) 



1. S. angUStifoliitlll, Gray. Leaves linear, elongated; flowers small 

 (k' long), white, veiy short-pedicelled, in slender racemes ; the prolonged termi- 

 nal one, and often some of the lateral, fertile. (Veratrum angustifolium, Pursh. 

 Helonias graminea, Bot. Mag.) — Grassy prairies and low meadows, Penn. to 

 Illinois, Virginia, and southward toward the mountains. July. — Stem slender, 

 2°-6° high. 



7. VERATRUM, Tourn. False Hellebore. 



Flowers monoeciously polygamous. Perianth of 6 spreading and separate 

 obovatc-oblong (greenish or brownish) sepals, more or less contracted at the 

 base, entirely free from the ovary, not gland-bearing. Filaments free from the 

 sepals and shorter than they, recurving. Pistils, fruit, &c. nearly as in Melan- 

 thium. — Somewhat pubescent perennials, with simple stems from a thickened 

 base producing coarse fibrous roots (very poisonous), 3-ranked leaves, and ra- 

 cemed-panicled dull or dingy flowers. (Name compounded of vere, truly, and 

 ater, black.) 



1. V. viridc, Ait. (American White Hellebore. Indian Poke.) 

 Stem stout, very leafy to the top (2° -4° high) ; leaves broadly oval, pointed, 

 sheath clasping, strongly plaited; panicle pyramidal, the dense spilce-like racemes 

 spreading, perianth yellowish-green, moderately spreading. — Swamps and low 

 grounds ; common. June. (Too near V. album of Europe.) 



2. V. parvifldrillll, Michx. Stem slender (2° -5° high), sparingly leafy 

 below, naked above ; leaves scarcely plaited, glabrous, contracted into sheathing peti- 

 oles, varying from oval to lanceolate ; panicle very long and loose, the terminal 

 raceme wand-like, the lateral ones slender and spreading ; pedicels as long as the 



