Zygadenus. LILIACE^E. 183 



28. ZYGADENUS, Michx. ZYGADENE. 



Flowers perfect or polygamous, greenish white, erect on slender pedicels in gla- 

 brous simple or paniculate racemes ; perianth often adnate to the base of the ovary, 

 the oblong-lanceolate to ovate segments more or less distinctly glandular at the rather 

 broad or shortly unguiculate base. Stamens on the base of the segments, the filiform- 

 subulate filaments at first recurved. Seeds brownish, angled and somewhat mar- 

 gined. Stem from a coated bulb crowning a short rhizome, with narrowly linear 

 obscurely nerved leaves mostly near the base. Otherwise as Veratrum. 



A genus of half a dozen American species, with one in Siberia and another Mexican. 



* Flowers all perfect, rather large ; outer segments not unguiculate, the inner 



abruptly contracted to a broad claw. 



1. Z. Fremonti, Torr. Bulb oblong, \ to \\ inches long, with dark outer 

 coats : stem glabrous or rarely somewhat pubescent, from 3 inches to a foot or two 

 or even 4 feet high : leaves 2 to 12 lines broad : raceme simple or compound, few 

 many-flowered ; bracts mostly green ; lower pedicels an inch or two long : perianth 

 wholly free from the ovary, rotate ; segments 3 to 7 lines long, oblong-ovate to 

 lanceolate, obtusish, the greenish-yellow gland extending upward along the nerves 

 and so toothed on its upper margin : stamens nearly free, a half shorter than the 

 segments : styles short : ovules 10 to 20 or more in each cell : capsule oblong, 6 to 

 10 lines long : seeds \\ to 2 lines long. Pacif. R. Rep. vii. 20 (as Z. Douglasii). 

 Z. glaberrimus, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 160. Z. chloranthus, Hook. & Arn. 

 1. c. 402. Anticlea Fremonti, Torr. 1. c. iv. 144. 



In the Coast Ranges from San Diego (Cleveland, Wood) to Humboldt County ; very frequent 

 and sometimes known as " Soap-plant." It varies greatly in size (the var. minor of Hook. & Arn. 

 being the early dwarf form), as also in the size and form of the petals and gland, and in the num- 

 ber of ovules. The gland sometimes occupies the whole base of the petals or may be much nar- 

 rower. The similar Z. ELEGANS, Pursh (Z. glaucus, Nutt., and Z. chloranthus, Richards.), of the 

 northern Atlantic States and ranging to Behring Strait and Oregon, is found in Northeastern 

 Nevada and Eastern Arizona, but seems not to reach California. It is more glaucous, has the 

 perianth evidently adherent to the ovary (especially in fruit), and the segments with an obcor- 

 date gland covering the base. 



* * Flowers smaller, the lower sometimes sterile : segments of perianth all 



abruptly contracted to a short glandular claw. 



2. Z. venenosus, Watson. Bulb oblong-ovate, rather small (about J inch in 

 diameter), with dark outer coats : stem slender, to 2 feet high : leaves narrowly 

 linear, rarely over 2 or 3 lines broad, carinate and usually folded, scabrous at least 

 on the margin, the cauline scarcely or not at all sheathing : raceme simple (very 

 rarely slightly compound at base), short, becoming 4 to 6 inches long or more ; bracts 

 foliaceous or membranous, setaceous-acuminate ; pedicels slender, 3 to 6 lines or the 

 lower sometimes an inch long, mostly erect in fruit : perianth free from the ovary ; 

 segments triangular-ovate to elliptical, 2 or 3 lines long, obtuse or rarely acutish, the 

 blade rounded or subcordate at base : gland extending slightly above the claw and 

 terminated by a well-defined irregular line : stamens equalling the perianth, and 

 somewhat adnate to the claws : ovules 6 to 8 in each cell : capsule 4 to 6 lines long, 

 oblong-ovate, the cells abruptly contracted at the apex : seeds (usually 2 in each cell) 

 1| to 2| lines long. Proc. Amer. Acad. xiv. 279. Amianthium Nuttallii, Gray, 

 and others, as to the plant of the western coast. Anticlea Nuttallii, Torr. Pacif. R. 

 Rep. iv. 144, etc. Z. Nuttallii, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 343, mainly. 



Very frequent in meadows or on stream-banks from Monterey and Mariposa Counties to British 

 Columbia and eastward to the Wahsatch ; May to July. The bulb is poisonous and is known 

 among the northern tribes of Indians as " Death-Camass." Dr. Bolander notes, however, that in 

 Sonoma County it is eagerly eaten by the hogs and is hence called "Hogs' Potato " by the farmers 

 of that region. The plant of the California!! Coast Ranges is often stouter than that of the Sierra 



