300 



SMILACE^E. 



PoLYGONATUM. 



Desf. I. c. Convallaria biflora, Walt. fl. Car. p. 122. C. multiflora, Michx. fl. 1. p. 202. 

 C. pubescens, Willd. hort. Berol. t. 45 ; Muhl. cat. p. 35. C. canaliculata, Willd. I. c. ; 

 Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 134. C. hirta. Bosc, act. soc. hist. not. Par. ? C. parviflora, Poir. enc. 

 suppl. 4. p. 29. C. multiflora, C. biflora, C. pubescens, C. canaliculata and C. latifolia, 

 Torr. fl. I. p. 356 - 7. 



Rhizoma horizontal, creeping, thick and fleshy, marked with scars on the upper side. 

 Stem 1-3 feet high, simple, a little curved, terete or slightly angular, smooth. Leaves 

 variable in size and form, but usually more or less ovate or elliptical, 2-5 inches long 

 and 1 - 2i inches wide, acute, usually smooth on both sides, but sometimes pubescent 

 on the nerves underneath. Peduncles half an inch to an inch or more in length, recurved, 

 mostly 2-4- (but sometimes 5 - 6-) flowered, rarely one-flowered ; the pedicels 5-8 lines 

 long. Perianth tubular and somewhat funnel-form, half an inch to three-fourths of an inch 

 in length, greenish white. Filaments mostly smooth, but sometimes rough or minutely and 

 glandularly pubescent : anthers oblong, sagittate. Style about as long as the perianth : 

 stigma obtuse, somewhat capitate, triangular. Ovary 3-celled, with 3-6 ovules. Berry 

 globular, the size of a pea : bluish black, 3- (or by abortion 2-) celled, 3 - several-seeded. 



Rocky woods, banks of rivers, etc. Fl. June. Fr. September. Among my numerous 

 specimens of Polygonatum from all parts of the United States, I am unable to distinguish 

 satisfactorily more than one species, and this differs in some respects, but I think not speci- 

 fically, from P. multiflorum of Europe. The latter, however, has more slender flowers, 

 decidedly pubescent filaments, and only 2 ovules in each cell of the ovary. 



5. CLINTONIA. Raf. in jour. phys. 89. p. 102; Beck, hot. p. 358, not of Dougl. 



CLINTONIA. 



[In honor of tho late distinguished Governor Dewitt Clinton, of New- York.] 



Perianth 6-parted to the base, campanulate, deciduous. Stamens 6 : filaments filiform, inserted 

 at the base of the segments of the perianth : anthers linear-oblong, somewhat versatile. 

 Ovary oblong, 2-celled, with 10 - 12 horizontal anatropous ovules in each cell : style 

 filiform, compressed : stigma 2-lobed, compressed. Berry 2-celled, many-seeded. — 

 Perennial herbs, with a creeping rhizoma, 2-4 large radical leaves, and the flowers in a 

 simple umbel (rarely solitary) on a scape. Berries blue. 



1. Clintonia borealis, Raf Large-flowered Clintonia. 



Umbel 2 - 5-flowered ; pedicels without bracts ; segments of the perianth oblong-lanceolate ; 

 style about as long as the stamens. — Raf. in Atl. jour. p. 120; Beck, I.e. Dracaena 

 borealis, Ait. Kew. (ed. 1.) 1. t. 5; Muhl. cat. p. 35 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 135. Smilacina 

 borealis, Gawler in hot. mag. t. 1403 ; Pursh, fl. I. p. 232 ; Nutt. gen. 1. p. 225 ; Hook, 

 fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 175. Convallaria umbellulata, Torr. fl. I. p. 355, not of Michx. 



