16 BULLETIN 1012, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ZYGADENUS ELEGANS. 
: DESCRIPTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANT.‘ 7 
‘Zygadenus elegans, shown in Plate ITI, is an erect perennial herb 
- with leafy stems arising from coated bulbs. Often numerous bulbs 
are together, forming clumps; three are so grouped in the picture. 
The linear grasslike leaves are one-sixth to one-half inch broad, 4 to 12 
inches long, and are much whitened, particularly when young; the 
lower ones are sheathing at base, the upper without sheaths. 
The flowers are in racemes which are simple or somewhat branched 
below, and often few-flowered. Under the flowers are ovate-lanceo- 
-late purplish bracts. 
The greenish straw- 
colored or whitish 
flower segments are 
one-fourth to five- 
twelfths of an inch in 
the base of the ovary. 
The glands of the 
are obcordate. The 
ovary is ovate in form 
and thé stamens are 
~ included. 
In the western part 
of the United States 
(figure 5)- this plant 
ranges from the 
Olympic Mountains, 
Washington, east to 
: central Montana and 
Fic. 5.—Distribution of Zygadenus elegans in the western part of the southward through 
ieee ae central Oregon and 
- central Nevada to southern Arizona and east to central New Mexico. 
In this region it is a high-mountain plant ranging from 2,500 to 
13,000 feet. The natural habitat of Z. elegans is moist meadows and 
springy places from the yellow-pine to the arctic-alpine zones. Near 
the Salina Experiment Station the plant buds early in July, is in flower 
from the middle of July, and seeds in August and September. 
Distinction between Z. paniculatus and Z. elegans.—The technical 
description already given will serve to distinguish clearly the two 
species treated of in this bulletin. The stockman, however, using 
the country within the range of these plants, can readily ‘separate 
"4The description of Z. elegans and its distribution was prepared by W. W. Eggleston, of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
length and adhere to” 
uppet flower segments. 
