Clintonia. 



SMILACE/E. 



301 



Rhizoma rather thick. Leaves usually 3, varying from oval to narrowly oblong and obovate, 

 4-6 inches long, with a short abrupt acumination, hairy-ciliate on the margin, contracted 

 and somewhat clasping at the base, smooth along the midrib, with very numerous fine nerves 

 which are connected by horizontal veins. Scape 6-8 inches long, pubescent or nearly 

 smooth, terete. Umbel about 3- (seldom more than 4-) flowered : pedicels half an inch long. 

 Flowers rather longer than the pedicels, yellowish green ; the segments obtuse and a little 

 spreading, ciliate towards the base. Stamens as long as the perianth : filaments smooth, 

 slender : anthers large, attached by the face to the filament about one-third of their length * 

 above the base : cells opening laterally their whole length. Ovary oblong, 2-celled ; the 

 ovules in a double row in each cell : style rather thick : stigma more or less oblique, obscurely 

 lobed. Berry globose-oblong, about one-third of an inch in diameter, of a deep clear blue 

 color. Seeds obovoid and angular, reddish brown. Embryo minute, next the hilum. Albumen 

 fleshy and firm. 



Moist rocky woods, and swamps ; northern and western parts of the State ; in the Hudson 

 valley. I have not found this plant south of Catskill. Fl. June. Fr. August. The genus 

 Clintonia of Rafinesque, which was founded on this species, is, I now think, sufficiently 

 distinct from its allies, and is therefore adopted in this work, with a new character. The 

 Clintonia of D. Don, which was established many years after this, must receive another 

 name. It is almost needless to remark here, that the numerous species of Clintonia de- 

 scribed by Mr. Rafinesque in his various works, are all mere forms of C. borealis and C. 

 umbellidata. 



2. Clintonia umbellata. Small-jiowered Clintonia. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, the margin and keel ciliate ; umbel many-flowered ; cells of the 

 berry 2-seeded. — C. ciliata P., Raf. in jour, de phys. 89. p. 102. C. parviflora, odorata, etc. 

 Raf. in new fl. N. Am. p. 82. C. multiflora, Beck, hot. p. 358, excl. syn. Torr. <j- Bigel. 

 Convallaria umbellulata, Michx. fl. I. p. 202. C. umbellata, Poir. enc. suppl. 4. p. 30. 

 Smilacina umbellata, Desf. I. c. p. 53. t. 8; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 232; Nutt. gen. 1. p. 225; 

 Ell. sk. 1. p. 355. S. borealis fo., Gawl. in hot. mag. t. 1155. 



Leaves several (2 - 5), all of them radical or nearly so, 6 - 9 inches long and \\ inch 

 broad, acute or acuminate ; the margin, and usually also the midrib underneath, ciliate with 

 short weak hairs. Scape mostly longer than the leaves, slender, pubescent. Umbel (or 

 rather corymb) 15 - 30-flowered : pedicels about half an inch long, slender, spreading. 

 Flowers white, odorous, much smaller than in the preceding species. Leaflets of the perianth 

 spatulate-oblong. Stamens hypogynous : filaments somewhat dilated downward : anthers 

 oblong. Ovary ovoid-globose, 2-celled, with two collateral suspended ovules in each cell : 

 style straight, rather stout : stigma truncate, and very slightly 2-lobed. 



Jamestown, Chautauque county (Miss. C. Hazeltine). This rare plant has been con- 

 founded by many of our botanists with the preceding, owing to the imperfect descriptions of 

 the two species in our Floras. The C. umbellata is easily distinguished by its numerous 

 white and much smaller flowers. 



