408 



MELANTHACEAE. 



Veratrum viride Ait. 



American White Hellebore. Indian Poke. 

 (Fig. 984.) 



I 'era/rum i-iride Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 422. 1789. 



Rootstock erect, 2 / -3 / long, i / -2 / thick, with 

 numerous fibrous-fleshy roots. Stem stout, 2-8 

 tall, very leafy; leaves acute, the lower broadly 

 oval or elliptic, 6 / -i2 / long, 3 / -6 / wide, short -peti- 

 oled or sessile, sheathing, the upper successively 

 narrower, those of the inflorescence small; panicle 

 8'-2 long, densely many-flowered, its lower 

 branches spreading or somewhat drooping; pedi- 

 cels \"-T>" long, mostly shorter than the bracts; 

 flowers yellowish green, 8 // -i2 // brosFd; perianth- 

 segments oblong or oblanceolate, ciliate-serrulate, 

 twice as long as the stamens; ovary glabrous; cap- 

 sule io // -i2 // long, 4 // -6 // thick, many-seeded; 

 seed 4 // -5 // long. 



In swamps and wet woods, Quebec to Alaska, south 

 to Georgia, Tennessee, Minnesota and British Colum- 

 bia. Ascends to 4000 ft. in the Adirondacks. May- 

 July. 



2. Veratrum Woodii Robbins. Wood's 

 False Hellebore. (Fig. 985.) 



I'eratrum Woodii Robbins in Wood, Classbook, 

 Ed. 41, 557. 1855. 



Rootstock short, erect. Stem slender, 2-5 

 tall; leaves mostly basal, oblong or oblanceolate, 

 often i long, 2 / -4 / wide, narrowed into 

 sheathing petioles about as long as the blade; 

 upper leaves small and linear-lanceolate; panicle 

 open, i-2 long, its branches ascending; pedi- 

 cels shorter than the perianth,about as long as the 

 bracts; flowers 6 // -8 // broad, purple; perianth- 

 segments oblanceolate, obtuse, nearly or quite 

 glabrous, entire, little longer than the stamens; 

 ovary pubescent when young, becoming gla- 

 brous; capsule 6 // -8 // long, few-seeded. 



In dry woods and on hills, southern Indiana to 

 Missouri. June-July. 



ix. UVULARIA L. Sp. PL 304. 1753. 



Erect forked herbs, perennial by rootstocks. Stem leafy above, scale-bearing below, the 

 leaves alternate, sessile or perfoliate. Flowers large, solitary at the ends of the branches or 

 rarely 2 together, peduncled, drooping. Perianth bell-shaped or narrower; segments dis- 

 tinct, deciduous, each bearing a nectary at the base. Stamens 6, free, or adnate to the very 

 bases of the perianth-segments; filaments filiform; anthers linear, the sacs longitudinally 

 dehiscent. Ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled, short-stalked or sessile; styles united to about the mid- 

 dle, stigmatic along the inner side above; ovules several in each cell. Capsule ovoid or ob- 

 ovoid, 3-angled or 3-winged, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds globose, 1-3 }n each cavity. 

 [Name Latin, from uvula, a palate, in allusion to the hanging flowers.] 



Five or six species, natives of eastern North America. 



Capsule obtusely 3-angled, truncate or rounded; leaves perfoliate. 



Glabrous, glaucous; perianth-segments papillose within. i. U. perfoliata. 



Leaves pubescent beneath; perianth-segments smooth. 2. I', grandiflora. 

 Capsule acutely 3-angled or 3-wmged, acute at each end; leaves sessile. 



leaves thin, slightly rough margined, narrowed at both ends. 3. U. sessilifolia. 



Leaves firm, manifestly rough-margined, sometimes subcordate. \. ('. pubernla. 



