VERATRUM. CLV. MELANTHACjjE. 597 



mcnts unguiculate, with 2 glands at base, the claws bearing tjie sta- 

 mens ; ovary often abortive ; capsule exserted, subovoid, summit tri 

 fid and tipped with the 3 persistent styles ; seeds margined. St. 

 erect, puberulent above. Lvs. alternate, narrow. Panicle terminal. 



1. M. VIRGINICUM. (Leimanthium. Willd. Veratrum. Ait. Helonias.) 

 Lvs. linear-lanceolate ; panicle pyramidal ; segments of the perianth sub- 

 orbicular, hastate or auriculate at base. Native of wet meadows and margins 

 of swamps, N. Y. to Flor. Stem 3 4f high, leafy. Leaves about a foot long, 

 and an inch wide, sessile on a contracted and subclasping base. Flowers green- 

 ish-yellow, becoming brown, on short pedicels, arranged in simple, alternate 

 racemes, and together constituting a pyramidal panicle 10 15' in length. 

 Lower flowers generally sterile. July, Aug. 



2. M. HYBRIDUM. Walt. (Leimanthium. Roem. <$ Sch.} 



Lvs. long-linear-lanceolate, upper ones lew and short; panicle long, of 

 simple racemes, pedicels filiform, much longer than the flowers ; segments of the 

 perianth narrowly unguiculate, roundmh-rhomboidal ; glands connivent ; claws 

 channeled, stameniferous below the middle. Woods, Penn. to Ga. ! Stem 2 

 4f high, somewhat leafy. Leaves varying from lanceolate-linear to lanceolate, 

 the lowest contracted to the base or subpetiolate, shorter than the stem. Perianth 

 very open, yellowislgreen, segments acuminate, the long claws adhering to 

 and involving the filaments. June, July. 



ft. robustior. Gray. Loicer Ivs. lanceolate-oval; Imoer branches paniculate, 

 compound. 



3. VERATRUM. 



Lat. vere, atrum, truly black ; alluding to the dark color of the flpwers or root 



Flowers by abortion cf $ 9 ; segments of the perianth united at 

 base, petaloid, spreading, sessile and without glands ; sta. 6, shortei 

 than the perianth and inserted on its base ; ovaries 3, united at base, 

 often abortive ; styles short ; capsule 3-lobed, 3-partible, 00-seeded. 

 Lvs. alternate, broad and plicate, or narrow and grass-like. Fl&. 

 paniculate. 



1. V. VIRIDE. (V. album. Michx.) Poke. White Hellebore. 



Lvs. broad-oval, acuminate ; panicle compound, racemose ; bracts oblong- 

 lanceolate, bracteoles longer than the downy pedicels. Can. to Ga. A large- 

 leaved, coarse-looking plant, of our meadows and swamps. Root large, fleshy 

 with numerous long fibres. Stem 2 4f high, striate and pubescent. Leaves 

 strongly veined ajid plaited, the lowest near a foot long and half as wide, 

 sheathing at the base. Flowers numerous, green, in many axillary (or bracted) 

 racemes, which together form a very large, pyramidal, terminal panicle. July. 

 The root is emetic and stimulant, but poisonous, and should be used with cau- 

 tion. When powdered it causes violent sneezing. 



2. V. WOODII. Robbins. (Nov. sp.) Indiana Veratrum. 



Lvs. mostly radical, lanceolate and linear-lanceolate, glabrous, veined and 

 plicate, acute, tapering to a long, winged, sheathing petiole ; st. or scape terete, 

 tall, erect, with remote, lance-linear bracts ; panicle simple, slender, pyramidal, 

 many-flowered ; fls, tf $ , subsessile ; segments of perianth oblanceolate, dark 

 brownish-purple within. Woods, Linton, Green Co., la. ! Root fasciculate. 

 Leaves 1016' long (including the 48' petiole), 24' wide. Bracts 13' 

 long. Scape 3 6f high, paniculate } its length. Flowers f ' diam., nearly 

 black, with red stamens, upper and lower sterile. Ovary oblong, crowned with 

 3 spreading styles half its length. Seeds compressed, winged with the broad, 

 loose, membranous testa. July. 



3. V. ANGUSTIFQLIUM. Pursh. Grass-leaved Veratrum. 



Lvs. narrowly linear, flat, very long, lowest obtuse, upper ones diminish- 

 ing to subulate bracts ; jLs. in a slender panicle of racemes, those of the termi- 

 nal raceme (except a lew of the highest) perfect and fertile, those of the lateral 

 racemes mostly sterile ; segments narrowly lanceolate, subulate, acuminate. A 



