4 86 



MELANTHACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



i. TOFIELDIA Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 2, 157. 1778. 



Perennial herbs, with short erect or horizontal rootstocks, fibrous roots, slender erect 

 stems leafless above or nearly so, linear somewhat 2-ranked and equitant leaves clustered at 

 the base, and small perfect white or green flowers in a terminal raceme. Pedicels bracted at 

 the base, solitary or clustered. Flowers usually involucrate by 3 scarious somewhat united 

 bractlets below the calyx. Perianth-segments oblong or obovate, subequal, persistent, gland- 

 less. Stamens 6; filaments filiform; anthers ovate, sometimes cordate, introrse. Ovary ses- 

 sile,. 3-lobed at the summit; styles 3, short, recurved. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-beaked, septicidally 

 dehiscent to the base, many-seeded. Seeds unappendaged. [Dedicated to Tofield, an Eng- 

 lish correspondent of Hudson.] 



About 12 species, natives of the north temperate zone, i or 2 in the Andes of South America. 

 Besides the following another occurs in the southeastern States and two in northwestern America. 

 Type species : Tofieldia palustris Huds. 



1. Tofieldia palustris Huds. Scottish Aspho- 



del. False Asphodel. Fig. 1220. 



Tofieldia palustris Huds. Fl. Angl. Ed. 2, 157. 1778. 



Glabrous, stem slender, scape-like, leafless or bear- 

 ing a few leaves near the base, 2'-io' tall. Leaves 

 tufted, ^'-4' long, \"-2." wide; raceme oblong or sub- 

 globose in flower, dense, elongating to an inch or less 

 in fruit, the lower flowers first expanding; pedicels 

 usually solitary, minutely involucrate, \"-\" long in 

 fruit; flowers greenish white, i" broad; perianth- 

 segments obovate, obtuse, much shorter than the 

 oblong-globose minutely beaked capsule; seeds oblong, 

 unappendaged. 



Greenland and Labrador to Alaska, south to Quebec, the 

 shores of Lake Superior, and the Canadian Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Also in Europe and Asia. Lamb-lily. Summer. 



2. TRIANTHA Nutt. ; Baker, Journ. Linn. 



Soc. 17: 490. 1879. 



Perennial herbs, with pubescent foliage, the leaves mainly basal, their blades narrow, 

 flat. Flowers perfect, mostly clustered in 3's, in erect narrow centrifugal panicles; perianth- 

 segments white or greenish, nearly equal, glandless, persistent; stamens 6, mainly hypogy- 

 nous, the filaments slender, the anthers marginally dehiscent; ovules numerous in each 

 cavity of the ovary ; capsule 3-celled, dehiscent nearly or quite to the base ; seeds with tail- 

 like appendages at each end. [Greek, referring to the aggregation of the flowers in 3's.] 



Three known species, the following and one in Japan. Type species: Triantha glutinosa 

 (Michx.) Baker. 



Capsule oblong, z"-^" long; perianth-segments thin. i. T. glutinosa. 



Capsule ovoid, \y 2 "-2" long; fruiting perianth-segments rigid. 2. T. racemosa. 



i. Triantha glutinosa (Michx.) Baker. 

 Glutinous Triantha. Fig. 1221. 



Narthecium glutinosum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 210. 



1803. 



Tofieldia glutinosa Pers. Syn. i : 399. 1805. 

 Triantha glutinosa Baker, Journ. Linn. Soc. 17: 490. 



1879- 



Stem viscid-pubescent with black glands, 6'-2o' 

 tall, bearing 2-4 leaves near the base. Basal 

 leaves tufted, i'-*?' long, i"-3" wide; raceme 

 oblong and i'-ii' long in flower, longer in 

 fruit, the upper flowers first expanding; pedicels 

 commonly clustered in 3's (i's-4's), ascending, 

 viscid-pubescent, becoming 2"-6" long in fruit ; 

 involucral bracts minute, united nearly or quite 

 to their apices, borne just beneath the flowers; 

 flowers 3"-4" broad ; perianth-segments oblong, 

 mostly obtuse, membranous ; capsule oblong, 

 about 3" high, i' in diameter, thin-walled, twice 

 as long as the perianth, the beaks ' long or less ; 

 seeds slender-tailed at each end. 



In bogs, Newfoundland to Minnesota, Maine, Ohio, 

 Michigan, and in the southern Alleghanies. May- 

 June. False asphodel. 



