124 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
from Hancock and Cerro Gordo counties. The writer has observed the 
species growing in Linn, Benton, Tama, Iowa, Poweshiek and Jasper 
counties. Gow has reported the species from Adair county. 
Arthur, J. C. Contributions to the Flora of Iowa, p. 32, 1876. 
Shimek, B. Bulletin from the Laboratory of Natural History of the State 
University of low'a, Vol. 3, part 2, p. 213, 1896. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. and M. F. L. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 
1897, Vol. 5, p. 166, 1898; Vol. 6, 1898, p. 198, 1899. 
GOw, .Tames E. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1900, Vol. 8, 
p. 159, 1901. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. The Iowa Naturalist. Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 76, October, 1905 ; 
The Melanthaceae of low’a, p. 4, December, 1905. 
3. VERATRUM L. Sp. PI. 1044. 1753. 
Tall herbs, with short thick rootstocks, strongly veined and clasping 
leaves, and greenish, yellowish or purplish, monoecious or polygamous 
flowers displaj-ed in large terminal panicles. Perianth-segments 6, 
glandless or nearly so, without claws„ adnate to the base of the ovary. 
Stamens G, free from the perianth-segments but opposite them. Anthers 
cordate, the sacs confluent. Ovary ovoid; styles 3, persistent. Capsule 
3-lobed, 3-celled, the cavities several-seeded. Seeds flat, broadly winged. 
1. Veratrum ^voodii Robbins in Wood, Classbook, Ed. 10. 557, L850. 
Wood's False Hellebore. 
Plant from a short erect poisonous rootstock which is covered with a 
shaggy fibrous coat formed from the remains of decayed leaves; rootlets 
slender, many, with a hard fibrous center; stem 2 — 6 feet high, slender, 
pubescent; leaves mostly from below, oblong, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 
entire, glabrous, acute, 5 — 12 inches long, 2 — 4 inches wide; the upper 
leaves small, linear-lanceolate; panicle simple, 1 — 2 feet long, pyramidal, 
open, pubescent, the branches ascending; pedicels and bracts of about 
equal length, shorter than the perianth; fiowers about one-half inch 
across, purple; perianth-segments oblanceolate, obtuse, nearly glabrous, 
slightly exceeding the stamens in length; ovary pubescent when young, 
glabrous when mature; capsule about one-half inch in length, with a 
few seeds. The type locality is: “Woods, Linton, Green Co., I[ndian]a!” 
This plant occurs in dry soil in open woods, frequently solitary, some- 
times in colonies. The flow^ers open during Julj'. The species ranges 
from Indiana to Missouri, and is found in Iowa only in the southern 
counties where it is of frequent occurrence. Apparently it rarely blooms 
as the vast majority of the plants found by the writer, consisted only of 
the rootstocks and the radical leaves. 
Specimens at hand are from Jefferson, Appanoose and Decatur coun- 
ties. J. C. Arthur reported the species from Des Moines county and L. 
H. Pammel from Wayne and Wapello counties. 
Wood, A. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 6, Nos. ^3-44, p. 245, 
July-August, 1878. 
Arthur, J. C. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Naturai Sciences, 
Vol. 3, p. 170, 1882. 
Pammel, L. H. The Plant World, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 151 — 152, August, 1901. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. and M. F. L. The Plant World, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 192 — 
193, October, 1901. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. The Iowa Naturalist, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 78, October. 1905 ; 
The Melanthaceae of Iowa, p. 5, December, 1905. 
