IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
135 
4, ERYTHRONIUM L. Sp. PI. 305. 1753. 
Dow herbs, from deep membranous coated corms which frequently bear 
offshoots, with simple steams bearing a pair of unequal leaves near or 
below the middle, thus appearing basal, and large, nodding, bractless, 
usually solitary flowers. Many plants consist only of a simple long- 
petioled leaf from the deep-seated corm. Perianth-segments separate, 
oblong, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, deciduous, with a nectariferous groove 
and sometimes two short processes at the base. Stamens 6, hypogynous, 
included; anthers linear-oblong, not versatile. Ovary sessile, 3-ceiled; 
ovules several or numerous in each cell; style slender or thickened above, 
3-lobed or 3-cleft. Capsule oblong or obovoid, more or less 3-angled, 
loculicidal. Seeds compressed or somewhat angled or swollen. 
Offshoots produced from the base of the corm ; perianth-segments recurved. 
Flowers yellow'; stigmas very short. 3. E. americanum. 
Flowers white, blue or purple ; stigmas 1 — 2 lines long, recurved. 2. E. 
alhidum. 
No offshoots, propagating by basal corms ; perianth-segments not recurved. 3. 
E. mesocJioreum. 
1. Erythronium AMERTCAWuai Ker, Bot. Mag. 27, pi. 1113. June 1, 
1808. Yellow Adder’s tonguee. 
Ery tlironium dcns-canis Michx. FI. Bor. Am. 1 : 198. 1803. Not L. 
Erythronium angustatum Eaf. Med. Rep. (II.) 5 : 354. July 20, 1808. 
Erythronium hractcatum Bigelow ; Beck, Bot. N. & Mid. States, 365. 1833. 
Corm ovoid, 5 — 10 lines high, producing offshoots from the base; stem 
6 — 12 inches high; leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3 — 8 inches long, 
6 — 20 lines wide, acute or acuminate, frequently mottled with brown, 
with clasping petioles; peduncle nearly as long as the leaves, usually 
bractless; flower yellow, occasionally with a purplish tinge; perianth- 
segments oblong, 1 — 2 inches long, 3 — 4 lines wide, recurved, dotted in- 
side, the three inner auricled at the base; style club-shaped; stigmas 
mere ridges; capsule obovoid, 6 — 10 lines high, short-stipitate; seeds 
curved, backs roundish, between one and tvv^o lines long, pointed at both 
ends. Type locality of E. dens-canis Michx: ''Hal), in frigidioribus 
Amercia septentrionalis.” 
Britton and Brow'ii state that this species occurs in moist w'oods and 
thickets, ranging from Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, south to 
Florida, Missouri and Arkansas. The time of blooming is from March 
until May. 
The writer has seen no specimens credited to Iowa. Professor Bessey 
reported the species from Fayette county. Professor Arthur credits the 
species to Winneshiek county, and Mr. Upham states that the species is 
plentiful locally near Hesper, Winneshiek county, Iowa. Mr. Gow re- 
ported the species from Adair county, doubtless an error in determin- 
ation. 
Bessey, C. E. Foui-th Biennial Report of the Iowa State Agricultural Col- 
lege, p. 123, 1872. 
Arthur, J. C. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science#, 
Vol. 3, p. 170, 1882. 
Upham, Warren. Catalogue of the Flora of Minnesota, p. 146, 1884. 
Gow, James E. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1900, Vol. 
8, p. 159, 1901. 
