IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
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Plants 2 — 8 inches high, glabrous or pubescent, from slender running 
rootstocks; stems often zigzag; leaves usually 2 , ovate or ovate-lanceo- 
late, acute, acuminate or bluntish and cuspidate at the apex, cordate at 
the base, the sinus being narrow and closed, sessile or short-petioled or 
occasionally with a petiole one-half inch long, sometimes with a single 
leaf arising from the rootstock with a petiole as much as four inches 
long; raceme rather dense, many-flowered, 1 — 2 inches long; pedicels 
usually longer than the flowers; perianth-segments oblong, about one 
line long, obtuse, at length reflexed; stamens usually included; berry 
reddish, speckled, about two lines in diameter. 
This rather delicately formed plant is met with in moist woods from 
Newfoundland to North Carolina westward to Iowa, South Dakota, and 
the Northwest Territory. The flowers bloom in May and June and the 
fruit ripens within a short period. 
The Iowa specimens in the writer’s herbarium are from Winneshiek, 
Fayette and Johnson counties. Professor Hitchcock reported the species 
from Story county; Barnes, Reppert and Miller from Muscatine county; 
and Peck from Hardin county. In Iowa the species may be said to be 
infrequent or perhaps rare and apparently limited to the eastern half of 
the state. 
Arthur, J. C. Contribution to the Flora of Iowa, p. 32, 1876. 
Hitchcock, A. S. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol. 
5, p. 520, 1892. 
Britton, N. L. and Brown, A. Illustrated Flora, Vol. 1, p. 431, 1896. 
Fink, Bruce. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1896, Vol. 4, p. 
103, 1897. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1897, Vol. 
5, p. 129, 1898. 
Fitzpatrick, T. J. and M. F. L. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 
1897, Vol. 5, p. 166, 1898. 
Barnes, W. D. ; Reppert, Fred ; and Miller, A. A. 1‘roceedings of the Daven 
port Academy of Sciences, Vol. 8, p. 261, 1900. 
Britton, N. L. Manual, p. 272, 1901. 
Peck, Morton E. Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, 1904, ol. 12, 
p. 204, 1905. 
4. POLYGONATUM Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 54. 1763. 
Glabrous or pubescent herbs, with thick, jointed and scarred horizon- 
tal rootstocks, simple erect cr arching stems, scaly below, ovate or lan- 
ceolate leaves, and greenish or pinkish axillary, drooping, peduncled 
flowers. Perianth tubular or oblong-cylindric, 6-lobed. Stamens 6, 
included; filaments adnate to the perianth for at least half their length; 
anthers sagittate, introse. Ovary 3-celled, with 2 — 6 ovules in each cell; 
style slender; stigma small, capitate or slightly 3-lobed. Berry globular, 
pulpy, dark blue or blackish, with a bloom. 
WJiole plant glabrous ; filaments smooth, flatiish. 1. F. commutatum. 
Leaves pubescent beneath ; filaments filiform, roughened. 2. P. floriim. 
1. POLYGONATUM COMMUTATUM (R. & S.) Dietr. Smooth Solomon’s 
Seal. 
Convallaria commutata R. & S. Syst. 7 : 1671. 1830. 
Polygonatum commutatum Dietr. ; Otto & Dietr. Gartenz. 3 : 223. 1835. 
Polygonatum giganteum Dietr.; Otto & Dietr. Gartenz. 3 ; 222. 1835. 
