184 LILIACE^E. Zygadcnus. 



Nevada and northward, with the raceme occasionally compound, and the perianth-segments 

 usually with a shorter claw and the blade cordate at base. The species has been confounded with 

 Z. Nuttallii of the eastern plains and Texas, which differs in its stouter habit, broader leaves, 

 etc., the perianth-segments not at all unguiculate at base, the free stamens, and the much larger 

 seeds and capsule. 



3. Z. paniculatus, Watson. Very similar, but usually stouter ; the stem from 

 a larger bulb, 1 to 2^ feet high : leaves 3 to 8 lines broad, often all sheathing at 

 base : raceme compound ; bracts lax and scarious : flowers of the lower branches of 

 the raceme usually sterile and on short pedicels : perianth-segments about 2 lines 

 long, deltoid, acute or acuminate ; gland less definitely margined and often reaching 

 nearly to the middle of the blade : stamens equalling or exceeding the segments : 

 pedicels spreading in fruit : capsule oblong-ovate or oblong, to 1 inch long, the 

 cells attenuate at the apex : seeds 3 to 5 lines long. Bot. King Exp. 344. Helonias 

 paniculatus, Nutt. in Journ. Acad. Philad. vii. 57. Amianthium Nuttallii, var., 

 Gray, Ann. Lye. N. Y. iv. 121. 



At Ebbett's Pass (Brewer), Chico (Mrs. J. Bidwell), and especially frequent on the eastern side 

 of the Sierra Nevada, on dry hillsides and in blossom a month earlier than the last ; ranging 

 from Idaho and Nevada to Southern Utah (Palmer) and the Saskatchewan. Bulb also poi- 

 sonous. 



29. TOPIELDIA, Hudson. FALSE ASPHODEL. 



Perianth spreading, of 6 distinct greenish white oblanceolate 3-nerved persistent 

 segments. Stamens 6, equalling the segments and inserted at their base ; filaments 

 narrowly subulate ; anthers round-cordate, attached by the base, dehiscing laterally. 

 - Ovary sessile, ovate or somewhat obovate, 3-lobed and 3-celled : styles short, dis- 

 tinct, with small terminal stigmas ; ovules several in each cell, attached to the inner 

 angle. Capsule membranous or rigid, obovate, acute, beaked by the persistent 

 spreading styles, septicidal. Seeds several to many in each cell, with thin mem- 

 branous testa and often tailed. Herbaceous perennials, with slender running root- 

 stocks and mostly radical equitant linear leaves, the simple stem bearing a short 

 close raceme or spike of small flowers ; pedicels not jointed, usually with a small 

 involucre of 2 or 3 more or less united bractlets near the flower. 



A gemis of about a dozen species, confined chiefly to the northern temperate and arctic zones. 

 The following, with an additional species of the Atlantic States, belong to a subgenus Triantha-, 

 which is distinguished by having the flowers by threes in a raceme, but developing from above 

 downward, the anthers innate, seeds caudate at one or both ends, and the stem and inflorescence 

 somewhat glandular-pubescent. 



1. T. occidentalis, Watson. Stem (1 or 2 feet high) and pedicels below the 

 involucres viscid-pubescent : leaves shorter than the stem, 2 lines broad : raceme an 

 inch and pedicels becoming 3 to 5 lines long : involucre a short distance below the 

 flower, 3-lobed nearly to the middle, often reddish : perianth 1 1 to 3 lines long : 

 capsule obovate, membranous, 3 or 4 lines long : seeds 6 to 8 in each cell, angular- 

 ovate, with a loose spongy white testa and a slender tail at the outer end about 

 equalling the seed. 



Near cold springs in the Red Mountains, Mendocino County (Kellogg & Harford, n. 1022) and 

 northward ; Mount Hood ( Wood) ; Cascade Mountains, Oregon (Howell), and near the British 

 boundary, Lyall. 



2. T. glutinosa, Willd. More slender and less tall (6 to 16 inches high) : pedi- 

 cels shorter, with the scarcely lobed involucre near the flower : perianth 1 1 or 2 lines 

 long : capsule smaller : seeds numerous, linear, with close thin testa and a long 

 slender contorted tail at each end twice longer than the seed. 



Near the Columbia River (Hall), in the Cascade Mountains, Oregon (Howell), and perhaps 

 ranging southward into N. California. It is the more common American species, found from 

 Sitka and Bear Lake to Maine and Indiana and in the Alleghanies to N. Carolina and Tennessee. 



