4<S NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



perianth persistent and adnate to the lower part of the ovary after withering. 



Fruit an oblong, three-celled capsule, about i inch long. 



An inhabitant of marshes, bogs and moist places, New Brunswick to 



Vermont, New York, Manitoba and Missouri. Flowering in August. 



Not so rare as the Glutinous Triantha, but usually growing in similar 



locations. 



Bunchflower 



Melanthium virginicum Linnaeus 



Plate 10 



A rather tall, leafy, herbaceous plant, perennial by a thick rootstock; 

 stems slender to somewhat stout, 2 to 5 feet high. Leaves linear, acumi- 

 nate, often a foot long, but only one-third to 1 inch wide, the lower ones 

 sheathing the stem, the upper ones smaller and sessile. Inflorescence a 

 many-flowered panicle, 6 to 18 inches long, pubescent; flowers about three- 

 fourths of an inch broad, greenish yellow, turning brown with age; perianth 

 of six spreading, separate, persistent segments, each segment consisting of 

 an oblong, obtuse, flat blade, sometimes obcordate, about twice as long as 

 the claw, and bearing two dark glands at its base; stamens shorter than 

 the segments and adnate to them; fruit a three-lobed capsule, about two- 

 thirds of an inch long. 



In meadows, wet woods and marshes, Rhode Island to southern New 

 York and Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas. Flowering in July 

 and August. 



The Bunchflower is not a common plant in New York, and is found 

 only in a few localities in the southern part of the State. Two closely 

 related species are equally uncommon and also restricted to the southern 

 part of the State. These are: (1) the Crisped or Broad-leaved Bunch- 

 flower (Melanthium latifolium Desvaux) , with broader leaves 

 and the blade of the perianth segments undulate, crisped and scarcely 

 longer than the claw; (2) the Pine-barren Oceanorus (Oceanorus 

 leimanthoides (A. Gray) Small), with linear, blunt leaves, the outer 

 ones becoming fibrous, and small whitish flowers with oblong perianth 

 segments, which are sessile. 



