GREEN BEARCABBAGE 



Veratrum viride Alton 



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 have a plaited 

 appearance. The plant is 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 

 near relatives, is poisonous. The poison is chiefly in the root, however, 

 and when there is a shortage of other forage, animals often graze 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 from a specimen obtained in the Bow Valley, 

 thirty miles by trail north of Lake Louise, Alberta, at an altitude of 

 6,500 feet. 



PLATE I74 



