i76 MELANTHACE^E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 



base of the ovary, the thin ovate or ohovate sepals marked with a large obco,-date 

 viand. (Anticlea glauca, Kunth.) Banks of the St. Lawrence, New York, to 

 N. Illinois and northward : rare. July. 

 # * Glands of the perianth obscure. (Here also Amianthium Nuttallii, Gray.) 



3. Z. leiinailthoides. Stem l-4 high from a somewhat bulbous 

 base, slender ; leaves narrowly linear ; flowers small (4" in diameter) and nu- 

 merous, in a few crowded panic-led racemes ; perianth free, the obovatc sepal.'} 

 with a yellowish glandular discoloration on the contracted base. (Amianthium 

 leimanthoides, Gray.) Low grounds, pine-barrens of New Jersey (Durand, 

 Knieskern), Virginia, and southward. July. 



6. STENANTIIIUM, Gray (under Veratrura). 



Flowers polygamous or perfect. Perianth spreading ; the sepals narrowly 

 lanceolate, tapering to a point from the broader base, where they are united and 

 coherent with the base of the ovary, not gland-bearing, persistent, much longer 

 than the short stamens. Pods, &c. nearly as in Veratrum. Seeds nearly wing- 

 less. Smooth, with a wand-like leafy stem from a somewhat bulbous base, 

 long and grass-like conduplicate-keeled leaves, and numerous small flowers in 

 compound racemes, forming a long terminal panicle. (Name composed of 

 oTfvos, narrow, and av6os, flower, from the slender sepals and panicles.) 



1. S. angUStifolilllll, Gray. Leaves linear, elongated ; flowers small 

 (\' long), white, very short-pcdicelled, in slender racemes ; the prolonged termi- 

 nal one, and often some of the lateral, fertile. (Veratrum angustifolium, Pnrsh. 

 Helonias graminea, Bot. Mag.} Grassy prairies and low meadows, Penn. to 

 Illinois, Virginia, and southward toward the mountains. July. Stem slender, 

 2-6 high. 



7. VERATRUM, Tourn. FALSE HELLEBORE. 



Flowers monoeciously polygamous. Perianth of 6 spreading and separate 

 obovate-oblong (greenish or brownish) sepals, more or less contracted at the 

 base, entirely free from the ovary, not gland-bearing. Filaments free from the 

 sepals and shorter than they, recurving. Pistils, fruit, &c. nearly as in Melan- 

 thium. Somewhat pubescent perennials, with simple stems from a thickened 

 base producing coarse fibrous roots (very poisonous), 3-ranked leaves, and ra- 

 cemed-panicled dull or dingy flowers. (Name compounded of vere, truly, and 

 ater, black.) 



1. V. vi ride, Ait. (AMERICAN WHITE HELLEBORE. INDIAN POKE.) 

 Stem stout, very leafy to the top (2 -4 high); leaves broadly oval, pointed, 

 sheath clasping, strongly plaited; panicle pyramidal, the dense spike-like racemes 

 spreading, perianth yellowish-green, moderately spreading. Swamps and low 

 grounds ; common. June. (Too near V. album of Europe.) 



2. V. parviflorum, Michx. Stem slender (2 -5 high), s/nrhif/li/ leafy 

 below, naked above; AY//V.S- scarcely plaited, glabrous, contracted into shmtJihin peti- 

 oles, varying from oval to lanceolate; panicle very long and loose, the terminal 

 raceme wand-like, the lateral ones slender and spreading ; pedicels as long as the 





