GREEN BEARCABBAGE 
Veratrum viride Aiton 
Wherever green bearcabbage grows, it is always a conspicuous 
plant, in spite of the fact that its flowers are scarcely different in color 
from the foliage. In the West it loves the moist, rich soil of mountain 
meadows and valleys. The leaves are strongly veined and havea plaited 
appearance. The plant 1s coarse and tall, the flower panicles often 
rising five feet above the ground. The sturdy shoots of this plant 
push through the soil when the earliest spring flowers unfold, as soon 
as the snow has melted, and at that time its fresh green color is most 
attractive. It belongs to the Bunchflower Family and, like some of its 
neat relatives, is poisonous. The poison is chiefly in the root, however, 
and when there is a shortage of other forage, animals often gtaze on 
bearcabbage without ill effect. 
Green bearcabbage is found over much of the cooler parts of North 
America from Virginia to Tennessee and Oregon, and northward. 
The sketch was made froma specimen obtained in the Bow Valley, 
thitty miles by trail north of Lake Louise, Alberta, at an altitude of 
6,500 feet. 
PLATE 174 
