LILIACEAE (LILY FAMILY) 77 



narrow simple racemes three to six inches long, each pedicel subtended 

 by a thin, lance-like bract ; each blossom is about a half -inch broad, 

 its six perianth segments triangulate ovate or elliptic and narrowing 

 abruptly to a short claw, on the upper side of which is an irregular 

 roundish gland ; stamens six. The racemes lengthen as the fruits 

 form and the erect capsules are longer than the segments of the 

 perianth, which are persistent ; capsules three-lobed and three- 

 celled, each cavity containing a number of oblong angled seeds. 

 After the fruits mature the plants wither, dying down to the bulbs 

 early in July. 



Means of control 



Herding of animals away from the plants while they are in the 

 growing, succulent stage seems to be the only plan practicable on 

 the open range. In more restricted localities the weed may be de- 

 stroyed by putting the land under cultivation for a time. The 

 bulb is easily and quickly pulled from the ground when it is softened 

 by rains, and for small areas even the expense of removal by hand 

 labor might well be afforded in order to cleanse the soil from such a 

 dangerous plague. 



COMMON BUNCH-FLOWER 



Meldnthium virginicum, L. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 



Time of bloom : June to August. 



Seed-time: July to September. 



Range: Rhode Island and New York to Minnesota, southward to 



Georgia and Texas. 

 Habitat: Wet grasslands, marshes, and borders of streams. 



A very pernicious plant, nearly related to the Veratrum. It is 

 specially obnoxious as a weed of wet meadows, for its long, narrow 

 leaves make it much less conspicuous among the grass and hay than 

 its larger and more deadly relative. It is poisonous to all stock, 

 but particularly so to horses. 



The stem springs from a large, thick rootstock, and is rather 

 slender, simple, two to four feet or more high, very leafy, and 

 roughish-downy near the top, as is also the flower stalk. Leaves 

 narrow lance-shape to linear, often more than a foot long, a half- 



