LILY FAMILY 



LILIACEAE 



COLICROOT. STAR GRASS 



Aletris farinosa L. 



The Colicroot is a shy inhabitant of out of the way places, 

 and is found in dry, more often in wet, but only in sandy soil. 

 It occurs locally from Maine to Minnesota and south to Florida 

 and Arkansas. 



This is a perennial with numerous tough 

 fibrous roots. The foliage leaves are basal but 

 the flowering shoot, which grows 1-3 feet high, 

 bears several small bractlike leaves. The whole 

 plant is a pale yellowish green, and is very 

 bitter. 



The many flowers, borne in an erect spicate 

 raceme 4-12 inches lone, 

 bloom in July and August.' 

 The white cylindrical peri- 

 anth is 6-lobed at the top, 

 with the 6 stamens attached 

 to the tube just below the 

 lobes. Thickly set points 

 roughen and give a mealy 

 appearance to the outside 

 of the perianth, from which 

 comes the generic name 

 meaning a slave who grinds 

 corn. The pistil consists of 

 a 3-celled ovary, an awl- 

 shaped style and 3 stigmas. The fruit is a capsule containing 

 numerous seeds. 



The plant of which Colicroot appears almost as a smaller edition 

 is the Spanish Bayonet, Yucca filamcntosa L., a very striking plant 

 of the southeastern United States which naturally or by artificial 

 means has become well established in many parts of the Ozark 

 uplift. The great basal cluster of swordlike leaves remains green 

 throughout the winter, and in summer if the plant is old enough 

 it sends up a stout scape 2-10 feet high and bearing a great panicle 

 of white flowers. The flowers are \y2-~}2 inches long, ovate and 

 6-divided, with 6 stamens shorter than the perianth. It requires the 

 Pronuba moth to pollinate and fertilize it, and pays for the work by 

 harboring in its 3-celled capsule along with the many seeds, the egg 

 of the moth. 



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