MELANTHACE^E. (COLCHICUM FAMILY.) 491 



stigmas decurrcnt within. Capsule roundish, 3-lobed, loculicidally 3-valved. 

 Seeds 2 in each cell, collateral, oblong, wingless. Stem bulbous at the base, 

 simple, leafy. Leaves dry, rigid, rough on the margins, very narrow, dilated at 

 the base ; those of the stem very numerous and needle-shaped. Flowers white, 

 in a simple dense raceme. 



1. X. asphodeloides, Gray. (Helonias asphodeloides, L.) Dry sandy 

 soil, North Carolina, and northward. May and June. Stem 3 - 5 high. 

 Eadical leaves spreading, 1 or more long, very slender-pointed. Flowers 2" 

 long. Stamens dilated below. 



11. CHAMJELIBIUM, Willd. 



Flowers dioecious. Leaves of the perianth linear-spatulate, shorter than the 

 filiform, filaments. Anthers 2-celled, roundish. Styles club-shaped : stigmas 

 decurrent. Capsule ovoid, 3-angled, loculicidally 3-valved, many-seeded. Seeds 

 linear-oblong, winged at the ends. Stem simple, from a thick rhizoma, leafy. 

 Lowest leaves spatulate or obovate, the others linear or lanceolate. Flowers 

 small, white, in a simple spiked raceme. 



1. C. luteum, Gray. (Helonias dioica, Pursh.) Low grounds, Florida, 

 and northward. May and June. Stem l-2 high, furrowed. Radical leaves 

 clustered, 2' -4' long, spreading; the uppermost small and bract-like. Racemes 

 6' -12' long, the sterile ones slender and drooping at the summit; the fertile 

 rigid and erect. Perianth inconspicuous. 



12. PLEEA, Michx. 



Flowers perfect. Leaves of the perianth sessile, widely spreading, lanceolate, 

 rigid. Stamens 9-12, shorter than the perianth : filaments slender : anthers 

 linear, introrse, 2-cleft at the base, versatile. Styles short, subulate . stigmas 

 simple. Capsule coriaceous, ovate, 3-lobed, many-seeded ; the cells opening 

 down the inner suture. Seeds oblong, bristle-pointed. Stems smooth and 

 slender, from clustered rootstocks. Leaves chiefly radical, very narrow, 2-edged, 

 equitant. Flowers few in a simple raceme, white. Bracts spathe-like, clasping. 



1. P. tenuifolia, Michx. Pine-barren swamps and bogs, Florida to 

 North Carolina. Oct. Stem rush-like, 2 high. Radical leaves erect, rigid, 

 perennial, 6' - 9' long. Raceme rigid, 6 - 9-flowered, the erect pedicels enclosed 

 in the rigid clasping bracts. Flowers 1' wide, greenish without. 



13. TOFIELDIA, Hudson. 



Flowers perfect. Leaves of the perianth spreading, sessile, oblong or obovate. 

 Filaments subulate anthers innate or introrse, 2-celled. Styles subulate : stig- 

 mas terminal. Capsule 3-angled, septicidally 3-partible, many-seeded. Seeds 

 oblong. Stems simple, scape-like, from creeping rootstocks. Leaves linear, 

 2-edged, equitant. Flowers small, whitish, in spikes or racemes. Pedicels 

 commonly minutely 3-bracted under the flower. 



