48 THE BUNCH-FLOWER FAMILY. 



CRISPED BUNCH=FLOWER. 



Mehinthiuin laiifbliuin. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



BuHch-Jlower. Yelloivisk or Fragrant. South Carolina to J iily^ August, 



greenish white. Pcntisyiznmia and Connecticut. 



Flcnvers: growing in a terminal ])anicle, tlieir pedicels slender and with lanceo- 

 late bracts at their bases. Fcyiantk : with six rounded or ovate segnienls, crisped 

 on their margins and considerably narrowed into ciaws at the bases where there 

 are minute glands. Stamens: shorter than the petals. Capsule: large; three- 

 valved, each one of which is tipped at the apex; the petals being persistent about 

 the base. Leaves : clasping at ihe base of the stem; oblanceolate, eighteen inches 

 to two feet long, sessile; pointed and much smaller near the summit of the stem ; 

 smooth. Stem: two to four feet high; stout; erect; somewhat grooved; pubes- 

 cent. 



In travelling through the Alleghanies, those sections most noted for their 

 wealth of vegetation, I came many times across this tall plant; for in spite 

 of its being so wholly green it was successful in attracting the eye, either 

 from the swinging black Maria used as a diligence through the mountains, 

 or from the windows of the more conventional railway train. It inhabited 

 there the dry woods which extended close to the road side. Naturally it is 

 a great, coarse plant, but when observed closely there is something of in- 

 terest in the crimping of its petals and in the way they persistently cling to 

 the bases of the forming capsules. 



M. Vir'ginicitni, bunch-flower, grows in wet meadows and marslies over 

 an extended range and is similar to the crisped bunch-flower in general 

 characteristics. Its leaves, however, often grow as long as eighteen inches. 

 They are linear, and about the edges of its oblong perianth segments there 

 is no crisping. The plant is simply plain Mary with no trimmings. 



M. parvifibrtini, small flowered melanthium, the Veratriim parviflbrttm 

 of Michaux, bears oval, or oblanceolate leaves which are quite distinctive 

 enough to mark the species. Often they are three and a half or four 

 inches wide and about eight inches long. At their apices they are short- 

 pointed and taper at the bases into sheathing petioles. The flowers are \ 

 small, greenish and unattractive ; their segments being oblanceolate and i 

 without glands at the bases of their short claws. The specimen that came 

 under my notice grew in rich soil on the upper slope of Mount Mitchell, 

 N. C. The plant's range, however, extends from South Carolina to Virginia. 



LARGE FLOWERED BELLWORT. 



Uintlaria grandiflbra. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM | 



Bunch-Jlower. Lonon-yelloiv. Scentless. G orgin and Tennessee April-June. 



northivard to Quebec. \ 



Flotvers : one to one and a half inches long, solitary and droopuig from slender \ 



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