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TOFIFLDIA MELANTHACE 665 
ABAMA : 
scarious more or less united bractlets on the pedicel. Perianth of 
6 distinct 3-nerved persistent segments. Stamens 6, equalling 
the segments and inserted at their bases: filaments narrowly 
subulate: anthers round-cordate, attached by the base, 2-celled, 
laterally dehiscent. Ovary sessile, 3-lobed and 3-celled, with 
several ovules attached to the inner angle in each cell. Styles 
short, distinct, with small terminal stigmas. Capsule membran- 
aceous or rigid, beaked by the 3 persistent styles, septicidally 
dehiscent. Seeds several to many, with thin membranous testa, 
_ often tailed. 
-T. glutinosa Pers. Syn. i, 399. Stem viscid-pubescent with black 
glands, 6-20 inches high, bearing 2-4 leaves near the base: radical leaves 
tufted, 3-7 inches long, 1-8 lines wide: raceme oblong, the upper flowers 
first appearing: pedicels commonly clustered in 5’s, ascending viscid- 
pubescent, becoming 2-6 lines long in fruit: involucral bracts minute, 
united nearly or quite to their apices, borne just below the flower: segments 
of the perianth oblong, mostly obtuse. about 2 lines long, membranous: 
capsule oblong, about 3 lines high, 3-valved : seeds tailed at both ends. In 
mountain marshes, Oregon to Alaska and across the Continent. 
T. intermedia Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot, Club, xxvii, 528, Stem slen- 
der, about a foot high, viscid-pubescent with black glands above, leafy 
below: leaves 3-10 inches long, 34-3 lines wide: raceme dense, 6-12 lines 
long: bracts broad ovate: pedicels usually 3 together, a line or less long: 
involucral bracts 3, broadly triangular, united for %g their length: segments 
of the perianth oblong, about a line long, acute, bright white, drying yel- 
lowish: capsule ovoid, about 3 lines long: seeds appendaged. In mountain 
marshes, Oregon to Alaska. 
T. occidentalis Watson Proc. Am. Acad. xiv, 283. Stem stout, 1-3 
feet high, glandular above, sparingly leafy below: leaves 2-12 inches long, 
numerous: raceme 1-2 inches long, dense: pedicels 2-3 together, 2-3 lines 
long, viscid below the involucral bracts which are united to the middle: 
segments of the perianth oblong, about 3 lines long: capsule obovate, 3-4 
lines long, long-beaked : seeds angular-ovate, with loose white spongy testa 
and a slender tail at the outer end nearly as long asthe body. In marshes, 
northern California to the Cascade Mountains in Washington. 
5 ABAMA Adans. Fam. Pl. ii, 47. (1763.) 
NARTHECIUM Juss. Gen. 47. (1789.) 
Perennial herbs with creeping or horizontal rootstocks, fibrous 
roots, erect simple stems, linear grass-like leaves and small per- 
fect flowers in terminal bracted racemes, the pedicels bracteolate 
near the middle. Perianth of 6 distinct persistent segments. 
Stamens 6, hypogynous, distinct: filaments subulate, pubescent : 
anthers linear, attached by the base, introrse. Ovary sessile, 
linear-oblong, 3-celled, many-ovuled, attenuate upward to the 
small slightly lobed stigma. Capsule thin-chartaceous, loculicid- 
ally 8-valved.. Seeds numerous ascending from near the base, 
small and linear, with thin transparent testa, and a long bristle- 
like tail at each end. 
A. Californica Heller. Narthecium Californicum Baker. Rootstocks 
slender, with scarious scales at the nodes: stems slender, densely tufted, 
10-20 inches high: radical leaves 5-6 inches long, 1-2 lines wide, cauline 
