WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 49 



American White Hellebore; Indian Poke 



Veratnim viride Linnaeus 



Plate It 



A tall, leafy, perennial herb; stem simple and branched only in the 

 inflorescence, stout, 2 to 8 feet tall, from a poisonous, perennial, erect root- 

 stock 2 to 4 inches long and i to 2 inches thick with numerous fleshy-fibrous 

 roots. Leaves alternate, clasping, strongly veined and plaited, all pointed 

 at the apex; the lower leaves broadly oval or elliptic, 5 to 12 inches long, 

 3 to 6 inches wide; the vipper ones successively naiTOwer and shorter, those 

 of the inflorescence very small; stem and inflorescence pubescent. Flowers 

 greenish or greenish yellow, two-thirds to i inch broad arranged in a many- 

 flowered panicle at the summit of the stem, the panicle often 8 to 20 inches 

 long, its lower branches spreading or drooping. Segments of the perianth 

 six, without glands or claws, oblong or oblanceolate, ciliate-serrulate, twice 

 as long as the curved, yellow stamens which are six in number and opposite 

 the perianth segments. Fruit a three-lobed, three-celled, many-seeded 

 capsule, three-fourths to i inch long and one-third to one-half of an 

 inch thick. 



In swamps and wet woods. New Brmiswick, Quebec and Ontario to 

 Minnesota, south to Georgia and Tennessee. Flowering in May and June, 

 or July in the far north. 



Liily Family 



L i 1 i a c e a e 



Day Lily 



IIcDicrocallis j'ldva Linnaeus 



Plate 12 



A tall, glabrous herb with fibrous roots, usually growing in dense 

 clusters. Leaves niostly basal, linear, erect or spreading, i to 2 feet long 

 and one-half to two-thirds of an inch wide, channeled and tapering to 

 an acute tip. Flowering scapes leafless, 2 to 5 feet tall, bearing a few 

 short bracts above, and six to fifteen flowers on short pedicels. Perianth 



