404 MELANTHACEAE. 



,11 ..... m ant fZ&/2L^ 



2. Stenanthium robustum S. Wats. 

 Stout Stenanthium. (Fig. 675.) 



Stenanthium robustum S. Wats. Proc. Am. 

 Acad. 14: 278. 1879. 



Stem stout, 3-5 tall, usually very leafy. 

 Leaves often i long or more, the lower 4"- 

 io // wide, the upper reduced to bracts; pan- 

 icle denser than that of the preceding species, 

 commonly longer, usually compound, its 

 branches spreading or ascending; flowers 

 greenish or white, 6"-S' / broad; capsule 

 ovoid-oblong, 4 // -6 // long, erect, longer than 

 its pedicel, the very short beaks recurved- 

 spreading. 



In moist soil, southern Pennsylvania and Ohio 

 to South Carolina and Tennessee. July-Sept. 



8. ZYGADENUS Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 213. 1803. 



Glabrous erect perennial herbs, from bulbs or rootstocks, with leafy stems. Leaves 

 narrowly linear. Flowers perfect or polygamous, greenish, yellowish or white, in a terminal 

 panicle or raceme. Perianth withering-persistent, its segments lanceolate or ovate, separate 

 or united below, sometimes adnate to the lower part of the ovary, bearing i or 2 glands or a 

 spot just above the narrowed base. Stamens free from the perianth segments and about 

 equalling them in length; anthers cordate or reniform. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled, the cavi- 

 ties not diverging, dehiscent to the base. Seeds several or numerous in each cavity, oblong 

 or linear, angled. [Greek, referring to the two glands of some species.] 



About 10 species, natives of North America and Mexico, i in Siberia. 



Plant with a thick rootstock; glands of the perianth-segments 2, orbicular. i. Z. glaberrimus. 

 Plants bulbous; gland onlj*i, sometimes faint or a mere spot. 



Gland distinctly obcordate ; perianth-segments 4" -5" long. 2. Z. elegaiis. 



Gland not obcordate; perianth-segments 2" -4" long. 



Gland with a poorly denned or irregular margin; perianth free from the ovary; western 



species 



Leaves 3"-8" wide; flowers mostly perfect. 3. Z. Xuttallii. 



Leaves 2" -3" wide; flowers polygamous. 4. Z. venenosus. 



Gland a mere yellow spot; perianth adnate to the ovary; eastern coast species. 



5. Z. leimanthoides. 



i. Zygadenus glaberrimus Michx. 

 Large-flowered Zygadenus. (Fig. 976.) 



Zygadenus glaberrimus Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 

 214. 1803. 



Rather dark green, slightly glaucous, stem 

 stout, 2-4 tall, from a thick rootstock. Leaves 

 3 // -6 // wide, long-acuminate, channelled, often 

 i long or more, the upper gradually smaller, 

 appressed, passing into the short ovate bracts of 

 the panicle; panicle 6'-i2' long, its branches 

 rather stout, stiff, ascending; panicle 6 / -i2 / 

 long, its branches rather stout, stiff, ascending; 

 pedicels stout, longer than the bractlets; flowers 

 white, mostly perfect, i'-i#' broad, perianth- 

 segments lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, nar- 

 rowed into a short claw, bearing 2 orbicular 

 glands; styles subulate; capsule narrowly ovoid, 

 shorter than the perianth. 



In swamps, Virginia to Florida, near the coast 

 July Sept. 



