MELANTHACE^E. 365 



Fhnoers small, greenish- white, subaxillary. solitary, drooping. Berry globose, 

 red. Introduced and naturalized in some places on Long Island and near the 

 city of New York. Common Asparagus. 



ORDER CXXXIII. MELANTHACE^E. MELANTHS. 



Flowers often polygamous or dioecious. Perianth petaloid, 

 6 -leaved or deeply 6 -parted. Stamens 6 ; anthers turned out- 

 wards. Ovary 3-celled : styles 3, distinct, (sometimes 1, nearly 

 entire or 3-cleft.) Fruit a capsule, generally divisible into three 

 pieces, or a 3-celled berry. Seeds with a membranous integu- 

 ment and dense fleshy albumen. Bulbous tuberous or fibrous- 

 rooted plants, with sessile more or less clasping or sheathing 

 leaves. 



I. VERATRE^E. 



I. ZYGADENUS. Mich. Zygadenus. 



(From the Greek gvyos, a yoke, and a Jjv, a gland ; the glands of the perianth 

 being in pairs.; 



Flowers perfect or rarely polygamous. Perianth deeply 6- 

 parted ; segments spreading, without claws, with two glands at 

 the base of each. Stamens 6. Filaments dilated at base. An- 

 thers cordate. Style 3-parted. Stigmas somewhat capitate. 

 Capsule ovoid-conic, 3-celled ; cells 6 10-seeded. 



Z. glaucus Nutt. : bulb tunicated ; leaves very smooth, shorter than the 

 stem ; bracts lanceolate, shorter than the pedicels ; segments of the perianth 

 oval or obovate, obtuse ; glands obcordate. (Nutt. Jour. Ph. Acad. vii. 56.) 

 Melanthium glaucum Nutt. Gen. 



Gravelly banks of the St. Lawrence. Shores of Lake Erie. Can. W- to 

 Miss. July, Aug. %. Stem 1 2 feet high, slender. Leaves mostly radical, 

 24 lines wide. Flowers greenish-white, in a panicle or a nearly simple ra- 

 ceme, sometimes polygamous. Torr. Smooth-leaved Zygadenus. 



2. MELANTHIUM. Linn. Melanthium. 



(From the Greek p\as, Uack, and av0oj, a flower ; the flowers becoming of a 

 dark color.) 



Polygamous. Perianth petaloid, rotate, deeply 6 -parted ; 

 segments unguiculate, with two glands at the base. Stamens 

 6, on the claws of the perianth. Styles short, subulate. Stig- 

 mas simple, minute. Capsule ovoid-conic, 3-celled. Seeds 

 numerous. 



1. M. Virginicum Linn. : leaves linear-lanceolate, long ; panicle very 

 large, pyramidal, with simple racemose branches ; segments of the perianth 

 ovate, somewhat hastate or auriculate ; glands approximated. 



Rocky woods. Staten Island and Orange county, N. Y. Torr. and Dr. W. 

 Horton. S. to Car. July. %.Stem 34 feet high, leafy. Leaves 915 inches 



