328 ENDOGENOUS PLANTS 



3-valved from the apex; seeds obovoid. Smooth perennials: rhizoma 

 creeping; flowers subterminal, mostly solitary, pendulous, pale 

 yellow. 



1. U pcrfoliiittl, L. Leaves clasping-perfoliate, lance-oblong; 

 perianth granular-roughened within ; capsule truncate at apex. 

 PERFOLIATE UVULARIA. Bell-wort. 



Stem 9 to 15 inches high, forked near the summit. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long, 

 varying from ovate to elliptic and oblong-lanceolate, generally rather acute. Peri- 

 anth about an inch long. 

 Hob. Moist woods, and meadows : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. Aug. 



2. U. esiliftlia, L. Leaves oval-lanceolate, sessile ; perianth 

 smooth within ; capsule acute at each end. 



SESSILE-LEAVED UVULARIA. 



Stem 9 to 12 inches high, slender, bifid at summit, mostly with a single flower 

 on. one of the branches. Leaves 1 to 2 inches long, acute at each end, the 2 lower 

 leaves on the flower-bearing branch nearly opposite, with the peduncle opposite 

 the lower one, and immediately beneath the other. Perianth % of an inch in 

 length. 

 Hob. Rich woodlands : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. August. 



SUBORDER II. MELANTHIE V AE. 



Flowers often polygamous, ordioicous; perianth mostly persistent, or withering, 

 the lobes nearly distinct ; anthers reniform-cordate, often becoming 1-celled and 

 peltate; styles distinct ; fruit capsular, usually septicidal (composed of 3 separable 

 carpels). 



446. MELiAUPTHIUM, Gronovius. 



[Gr. Mdas, black, and Anthos, flower ; the flowers becoming dark-colored.] 

 Flowers monoicously polygamous; perianth rotate, the lobes clawed, 

 roundish-ovate, with 2 glands at base. Filaments adherent to the 

 claws. Styles subulate, diverging, persistent. Capsule trigonous- 

 ovoid, formed of 3 connate separable carpels ; seeds flat, membran- 

 aceously margined. Tall perennials : stem simple, leafy ; leaves long 

 and narrow ; flowers in a terminal pyramidal racemose panicle, pale 

 greenish-yellow, finally brown. 



1. M. Virgiiiicmii, L. Leaves lance-linear ; perianth-lobes at 

 first orbicular, finally hastate-ovate, or oblong, flat, the glands 

 distinct. 

 VIRGINIAN MELANTHIUM. 



Stem 3 to 4 feet high, scape-like, terete, pubescent. Leaves 9 to 15 inches long, 

 sessile, narrowed at base, the lower ones sheathing. Panicle 12 to 15 inches 

 long; branches 2 to 6 inches long, simple, alternate, roughish -pubescent; floioerx 

 racemose on the branches : pedicels % to % of an inch in length, with ovate bracts 

 at base. Capsule about half an inch long. 

 Hob. Wet meadows; margins of swamps : frequent. Fl. July. Fr. Sept. 



" 447. VERA V TRUM, Tournef. 



[Latin, Vere atrum, truly black ; perhaps from the dark-colored root.] . 



Flowers monoicously polygamous; perianth spreading, the lobes 

 sessile, lance-oblong, without glands at base. Filaments free from, 

 and shorter than the lobes, recurved. Fruit, and seeds, nearly as 

 in Melanthium. Perennials : stem simple, clothed with large, elliptic, 

 plicate and many-nerved leaves ; flowers yellowish-green, in a ter- 

 minal bracteate racemose panicle. 



