MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 131 



This plant grows only in shady places and is tall, with 

 many brownish-green bells nodding on its slender stalks. It 

 has very narrow ribbon-like leaves growing from the base and 

 also up the stems. 



TALL ZYGADENE 



Zygadenus elegans. Lily Family 



Bulb ovoid, membranous, coated. Stems : slender. Leaves : very glau- 

 cous, narrow ; bracts long-keeled, lanceolate, rather large. Flowers : in a 

 single raceme, or a large panicle, its branches slender, ascending, the 

 perianth adnate to the base of the ovary, its segments broadly oval, the 

 inner abruptly contracted to a short claw, gland obcordate. Fruit : seeds 

 oblong, angular. 



A tall attractive plant whose branching stems are covered 

 by many round creamy flowers splashed with green. These 

 flowers are six-parted and have a number of brown-tipped 

 stamens clustered about the large green base of the pistil. 

 The capsule, or dry fruit, which develops as the floral leaves 

 die and drop off, is three-lobed and very large. The leaves 

 of the Tall Zygadene are long and narrow and are covered 

 with a whitish bloom. 



Z. venenosus^ or Poisonous Zygadene, is a slightly, shorter, 

 smaller species of this genus, also frequently found in the 

 mountain regions. Its yellowish-green flowers grow closely 

 together and it has roughish leaves. So poisonous is this 

 plant that animals frequently die from the effects of eating it. 



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