KEY. 



239 



Sepals (greenish-yellow) perfectly equal. Ovaries 

 3-6, connate at the base ; stigmas flat, blunt. Pods 3-6, ob- 

 liquely ovoid, diverging. Flowers peduncled, solitary, from 

 the axils of long sheathing bracts, in a raceme. Stem zigzag, 

 partly sheathed by the bases of the conduplicate, grass-like 

 leaves. Scheuchzeria palustris, L. 



739. Styles 3, or style 1, and 3-cleft or parted 730 



Style 1 ; stigma simple, blunt 742 



730. Styles 3 731 



Style simple, 3-cleft or parted. Flowers drooping 



or nodding 738 



731. Anthers heart-shaped or kidney -form, confluently 1- 

 celled (shield-shaped after flowering). Styles awl-shaped. 

 Pod 3-hornod, septicidal. Stem simple. Leaves lanceolate, 

 or linear. Flowers racemed or panicled 732 



Anthers 2-celled. Pod loculicidal. Flowers racem- 

 ed or spiked 735 



733. Sepals bearing 1 or 2 glands on the inside, next'the 



base. Flowers panicled. Seeds winged • 733 



Sepals not glandular, nor clawed. Perianth widely 



spreading 734 



733. Flowers polygamous. Sepals cordate or halberd- 

 form, perfectly free from the ovary ; their long claws coherent 

 with and shorter than the filaments. Glands confluent. 

 Flowers dull yellowish-green, or cream-colored. 



Melanthium Virgiuicum, L. 

 Flowers perfect. Sepals oblong, or ovate, scarcely 

 clawed, either free, or coherent with the base of the ovary. 

 Stamens free from the sepals, and about their length. Flow- 

 ers whitish-green. Zygadenus. 



734:. Flowers polygamous, panicled, or racemed. Sepals 

 longer than the stamens, greenish or brownish, contracted at 

 the base, but free from the ovary, or nearly so. Filaments 

 recurved. Leaves 3-ranked, broadly oval, strongly plaited 

 and pointed, or more lanceolate, scarcely plaited, and some- 

 times conduplicate-keeled. . Stem very leafy. 



Veratnuu (including Stenanthium, Gray.) 



Flowers perfect, racemed. Perianth free; sepals 



oval or obovate, shorter than the stamens. Stem scape-like. 



