]^g2 LILIACE.E. Veratrum. 



27. VERATRUM, Toiirn. False HELi.KRonr. 

 Flowers polygaiiiDUs, mostly creuin-color or grcL'ui.sh ; si'gmeiits distinct, sprorul- 

 ing, persistent, ohlong-obovate or oblanceolate, severul-nerveil, ^landless or with a 

 thickened greenish margin toward the base or somewhat biglandular, slightly adnatc 

 to the base of the ovary. Stamens free ; filaments subnlato ; anthers cordate, con- 

 fluently 1-celled, peltate after opening. Ovary sessile; styles distinct, stigmatic at 

 the apex. Capsule membranous, 3-beaked by the persistent divergent styles, septi- 

 cidal to the base. Seeds sevend in each cell, ascending, oblong-lanceolate, com- 

 pressed and margined or winged, with close thin whitish testa. — Stem stout, tall 

 and leafy, from a short thick rhizome, hearing a pubescent panicle mostly staminato 

 below, with green or greenish bracts ; pedicels short and stout, not jointed ; leaves 

 ovate to lanceolate, sheathing, strongly nerved and plaited, 



A genus of nine species, of which four are European and Asiatic and three belong to tlie 

 Atlantic States. The roots are poisonous, and those of sevci-;d species are employed in medicine. 



* Perianth-segments entire or serrulate, thichened hiteralb/ at base, very sliorfhj 

 (tdiKite to the oblong-ovate many-seeded membranous capsule. 



1. V. Californicum, Durand. Stem very stout, 3 to 7 feet high : leaves ovate, 

 acute, the ujjper narrowing to lanceolate, 4 to 1 2 inches long, all sheathing, some- 

 what pubescent or nearly glabrous : inllorcscence and upper part of stem tomentose- 

 pubescent ; branches of the panicle (a f(jot or two long) mostly simple and ascend- 

 ing, sometimes compound and more spreading, the lower usually sterile ; bracts 

 ovate-lqjiceolate, somewhat membranaceous, usually exceeding the pedicels (h to 2^ 

 lines long) : segments of the j)erianth oblanceolate, obtuse, whitish, with a greener 

 base, thickened and brown at the sides, the upper margin often somewhat denticu- 

 late irregularly, 3 to 8 lines long : stamens 3 to 5 lines long : capsule an inch long 

 or more : seeds 12 to 15 in each cell, whitisli, broadly winged, 5 or G lines long. — 

 Journ. Philad. Acad. iii. 103. V. alb/an, "Watson, liot. King Exp. 344. 



Frecjuent in the Sierra Nevada and in the Coast Ranges of Jlendocino County, and northward 

 to the Columbia ; also in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, and tlie Wiihsatch {U'litsuii), 

 Mount Graham, Arizona {liodtrock), and the Itocky Mountains from Wyoming to New Mexico. 

 It appears to diiler from ail the Old WorUl tonus of /'. a/liu,n, especially in the daiker thickened 

 bases of the more adnate perianth-segments, its larger capsules, and more numerous seeds. 



V. viniDE, Ait., of tiie Eastern States, also occurs in the mountains of Oregon and northward. 

 Its flowers are giecii, in a moic slender jjanicle with more or less drooping branches, the segments 

 more narrowly oblanceolate, and stamens shorter. The upper leaves aie more acuminate, and tlie 

 bracts more foliaceous, usually longer and narrower. 



« * Perianth-segments fimbriate, the ridged base dirided by a narrow longitudi- 

 nal snlcus, slightly adnate to the subgtubosc obtusely lobcd tliin-tncmbranous 

 capsule. 



2. V. fimbriatum. Gray. Stem 2 to 5 feet high or more : leaves lanceolate, G 

 to 18 inches long and 2 to (i inches wide, acute or acuminate, narrowed to the ba.se, 

 somewhat pubescent : panicle tomentoso, spreading ; bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate ; 

 pediccds stout, 2 to f) lines long : perianth-segments rhombic-ovate, greenish white; (?), 

 .3 to f) lines long, irregularly limbriato from above the broad base, which is marked 

 by two oblong subglandular spots separated by a narrow furrow and reaching to tlie 

 middle of tin; segiiieiit : lilanients stout, 2 lines long: styles long atid slender: cap- 

 sule depressed and somewhat emarginate at the apex, 4 lines long ; cells f) - 7-ovuled, 

 2-4-seeded: seeds nearly 3 lines long, oblong, scarcely margined. — Proc. Amer. 

 Acad. vii. 391. 



Frequent on the plains west of the Redwoods in Mendocino County, Bulaudcr, KclUxjfj k Har- 

 ford (n. 102?). A very jyeculiar sjtecies. 



