CONVALLARIACEAE (LILY OF THE VALLEY FAMILY) 119 



3. Zygadenus intermedius Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 27: 535. 1900. 

 Bulb elongated-ovoid: stem rather stout, 2-5 dm. high: leaves light green, 

 scabrous on margin and midrib, 1-3 dm. long, 5-9 mm. wide, keeled and often 

 more or less folded, with scarious sheathing base: flowers greenish or yellowish- 

 white: perianth free from the ovary; segments ovate or oblong, obtuse or 

 acutish, 5-8 mm. long, short-clawed; the outer subcordate at base; the inner 

 acute or rounded; gland semiorbicular, the upper margin thin and not well 

 denned: capsule ovoid-cylindrical. (Z. falcatus Rydb. 1. c. 536.) Colorado 

 and Wyoming. 



4. Zygadenus Nuttallii Gray, Wats. 1. c. Bulb ovoid: stem stout, 3-6 dm. 

 high: leaves 6-15 mm. broad: raceme simple or rarely branched below, many- 

 flowered, with narrow membranous bracts: perianth free from the ovary; 

 segments 6-10 mm. long, not clawed, with an ill-defined gland at base: stamens 

 wholly free: capsule about 12 mm. long: seeds large, 5 mm. long, usually 

 flattened. Scarcely within our range; eastern Colorado (probably) to Ar- 

 kansas. 



4. VERATRUM L. FALSE HELLEBORE 



Tall perennial herbs with thick rootstocks, broad, strongly veined leaves and 

 rather large flowers in a terminal pubescent panicle. Perianth of 6 distinct 

 similar segments. Capsule membranous, 3-beaked by the persistent diverging 

 styles. Seeds compressed, margined or winged. 



1. Veratrum speciosum Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 27: 531. 1900. Stem 

 5-15 dm. high: upper leaves lanceolate, but rarely acuminate: branches of the 

 sometimes compound panicle ascending: perianth-segments obtuse, whitish 

 with greener base, often denticulate above. V. calif ornicum. From Colorado 

 and Wyoming to northern California and Oregon. 



24. CONVALLARIACEAE Link. LILY OF THE VALLEY FAMILY 



Ours are leafy-stemmed herbs, simple or branched, from simple or branched 

 creeping rootstocks. Flowers solitary, racemose or panicled, regular and per- 

 fect. Leaves broad, nerved. Perianth 6-parted, the segments distinct. Sta- 

 mens 6. Ovary 3-celled, superior; stigma entire, or 3-lobed. Fruit a fleshy 

 berry. 



Flowers axillary, solitary or 2 together. 



Perianth-segments distinct . . . . . . . .1. Streptopus. 



Perianth-segments united . . . . . . . : . .2. Polygonatum. 



Flowers terminal. 



Solitary or very few in an umbel . . . . . ... 3. Disporum. 



Racemose or panicled . . . . . . . .4. Smilacina. 



1. STREPTOPUS Michx. TWISTED-STALK 



Stem rather stout, with forking and divergent branches, ovate and taper- 

 pointed rounded-clasping membranaceous leaves, and small flowers on slender 

 peduncles, which are abruptly bent or contorted near the middle. Flowers 

 axillary, greenish-white, 'or purplish. Anthers sagittate, cuspidate, on short 

 deltoid or subulate filaments. Ovary with numerous ovules in 2 rows in each 

 cell. 



1. Streptopus amplexifolius (L.) DC. Fl. France 3: 174. 1805. Stem 6-10 

 dm. high: leaves very smooth, glaucous underneath: anthers tapering to a 

 slender point: stigma entire, truncate. Across the continent in northern lati- 

 tudes and ranging south in the mountains to New Mexico. 



2. POLYGONATUM Adans. SOLOMON'S SEAL 



Rootstocks horizontal, thick, scarred. Stems simple, arching or erect, 

 leafy. Leaves alternate, ovate or lanceolate, sessile. Flowers white or green- 



