Erythronium. LILIACE^. ' ' 307 



2. Erythronium albidum, Nutt. White Dog's-tooth Violet. 



Leaves elliptical-lanceolate, not dotted ; peduncle one-flowered ; leaflets of the perianth 

 narrowly lanceolate, rather obtuse, the inner ones without lateral teeth, somewhat unguiculate ; 

 style clavato ; stigma 3-cleft. — Null. gen. 1. p. 223; Torr. Jl. 1. p. 350; Beck, hot. 

 p. 365; Kunth, enum. 4. p. 218. 



Plant about the size of the preceding. Flowers white with a shade of blue. Style 

 moderately clavate ; the stigma distinctly 3-lobcd, the lobes spreading or recurved. 



Wet meadows near Albany [Dr. Beck, Dr. Eights). Fl. April - May. It is possible that 

 this is a variety of E. Americanum ; but I have seen no intermediate forms. 



Suborder II. ASPHODELE^E. Endl. The Asphodel Tribe. 



Perianth tubular or 6-partecl. Stamens hypogynous or inserted into the perianth. 

 Fruit capsular or baccate. Seeds globose or angular ; the testa black and 

 crustaceous. — Herbs with the stem springing from bulbs or tubers, or with 

 fasciculate-fibrous roots. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA. 



3. Ornithogalum. Leaflets of the perianth several-nerved. Ovules 6 - 8 in each cell. Flowers in corymbose racemes, 



4. Allium. Leaflets of the perianth one-nerved. Ovules 2, rarely 3 - 6 in each cell. Flowers umbellate. 



5. Asparagus. Stigmas 3. Berry globose. — Branching herbs. Flowers axillary. 

 6'! Aletris. Perianth tubular, rugose. Stamens pcrigynous. Flowers in spikes. 



3. ORNITHOGALUM. Linn.; Endl. gen. 1132. star of BETHLEHEM. 



[From the Greek, ornis, omilhos, a bird, and gala, milk; but the application of the name is uncertain.] 

 Perianth 6-leaved, petaloid ; the leaflets spreading, several-nerved. Stamens 6, hypogynous : 

 filaments subulate above, flattened below, the 3 inner ones often broader. Ovules anatropous, 

 6 - 18 in each cell of the ovary. Capsule roundish-angular, membranaceous, 3-celled. 

 Seeds few in each cell, roundish or angular, black and rough. Embryo straight. — Bulbous 

 herbs, with radical leaves. Scape naked. Flowers in corymbose racemes. 



1. Ornithogalum umbellatum, Linn. Common Star of Bethlehem. 



Corymb few-flowered; the pedicels very long and spreading ; filaments lanceolate-subulate. 

 — Linn. sp. 1. p. 307; Engl. hot. t. 130 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 227; Torr. fl. \. p. 348; 

 Beck, hot. p. 362 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 219 ; Kunth, enum. 4. p. 362. 



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