4. S. stellata (D esf.); caule alterne plurifoliato, foliis ovali-lanceolatis acutis basi sub-
rotundatis, racemo siinplici terminali. Ph. Am. 1. p. 232.—Convallaria. L .— Torrey. 1.
p. 354. Bot. Mag. t. 1043.
Hab. From Lake Huron to the Saskatchewan, and from Hudson’s Bay (Dr Wright) to the Rocky
Mountains. Dr Richardson. Drummond. N. W. Coast and interior. Douglas. Tolmie. Dr Scouler.—
The berries are esteemed poisonous ; the root is employed as an emetic. ([Richardson.)
5. S. racemosa (D esf.); caule alterne plurifoliato, foliis sessilibus oblongo-ovalibus
acuminatis, racemo terminali composite. Ph. Am. 1. p. 234.— Convallaria. L .— Torrey.
1. p. 354. Bot. Mag. t. 899.
H ab. Throughout Canada to the Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains. Dr Richardson. Drummond.
N. W. America. D r Scouler.—More or less pubescent. The largest of the N. American species
(the leaves a span and more long), with the smallest and most copious flowers.
5. jS. bifolia (R oem .); caule alterne bi-trifoliato, foliis ovato-cordatis sessilibus vel petio-
latis, racemo simplici terminali, floribus tetrandris tetrasepalis.— Convallaria. L — Mich.
—-Bot. Mag. t. 510. Torrey. 1. p. 253.—Maianthemum Canadense. Desf.—Convall.
Canad. Ph. Am. 1 ./). 233.
H ab. Throughout Canada to Bear Lake; and from Hudson’s Bay and Newfoundland to the Rocky
Mountains. N. W. America, frequent. Douglas. Dr Scouler. Tolmie.—A very common and a variable
plant. More or less downy or glabrous. Leaves sessile or petiolate, (in some of the specimens from Fort
Simpson and from Sitcha, on the N. W. coast, the petiole is 3-4 inches long,*) broadly cordate or narrow
ovato-cordate. There is no reason whatever for considering the American plant different from the European
one.
5. POLYGONATUM. Desf.
1. P . multiforum. Desf.—Convallaria. L.—E .B ot.t. 279.—13. Americanum ; floribus
brevioribus foliis subtus plerumque pubescentibus.— Convallaria multiflora. Ph. Elliott.
Torrey.—P. pubescens, P. canaliculatum, P. hirtum , P. latifolium, and P. angustifolium,
of Ph. (Convallaria alior.), may perhaps all be safely referred to this.
Hab. Canada, Pursh, to the Saskatchawan. Dr Richardson. Lady Dalhousie.—All the specimens of
Polygonatum that I have received; under very different names; from the United States botanists, it appears
to me, are referable to the European P. multiflorum: but the leaves are generally downy beneath, and the
flowers are certainly shorter and greener, not so slender in proportion to their length, nor so much contracted
near the middle (more cylindrical), as in the European specimen. In the dried specimens, the rounded succulent
stem, from shrinking, becomes more or less angular or channelled, whence seems to have arisen the
P. canaliculatum of Muhlenberg. The P. angustifolium (G biflora, Walt, and Torrey) is only a narrow
leaved var.__The single specimen found at the Saskatchawan is in fruit, and is quite glabrous on both sides
of the foliage.
* This is S. bifolia, var. Kamlscliatica ofBongard in Herb, nostr., and appears to be pretty constant to its character
in the very northern regions, both on the Asiatic and American side. I have the same from Kamtschatka,
from Pallas’ Herbarium.
O e d . VIII. MELANTHACEiE. B r. L in d l.
I, LEIMANTHIUM. Willd.
1. L . kybridum (Roem.); panicula racemosa elongata, sepalis orbicularibus undulatis
longe unguiculatis, glandulis connatis. Gray. Melanth. Am. Sept. Reo. p. 116.__Melanthiuin
hybridum. Watt— Ph. Am. 1. p. 24.2. Torrey. 1. p. 367. Nuttatt.—Mich. M. racemosum.
ToHrreayb,. aUs pthpeeyr aCraen iand ao.u rM spre cGimolednise, l(oinn gH aenrdb ,l inneoasrt.r.).—Nuttall describes the leaves as elliptic-oblong:
2. L . Nuttallii; racemo compacto demum elongate, bracteis subulato-lanceolatis basi
membranaceis pedicellos floriferos soperantibus, sepalis ovatis 'undulatis unguiculatis,
foliis linearibus conduplicatis marginibus scaberrimis, bulbo timicata.— Amiantbium
Nuttallii. Gray. 1. c. p. 123.—Helonias angustifolia. Nutt, (rum Mx.) and H. paniculata.
Nutt, (fide Gray.)
H ab . N. W. Coast. Menzies. Common both to the north and south of the Columbia, on dry gravelly
soils. Douglas. Dr Scouler. Tolmie. Dr Gairdner—“ Poison or Death Camass” of the Chenooks, from
the violent effects of the roots, which create vomiting. Bulb about the size of a chestnut. Stem 1-2 feet
high, sparingly leafy. Pedicels much elongated, erect after flowering. Capsules (of three slightly combined
follicles) half an inch and more long, oblong-triangular, surrounded at the base with the withered
perianth, and terminated by the three nearly erect persistent styles, opening at the top between the styles.
Seeds, about two perfect ones in each cell, oblong somewhat 3-angular, the angles almost forming wings!
The sepals are distinctly clawed, and at the top of the claw is a depression, where the sides, lapping over
a little, give the appearance of two small scales : but the nectary is rather a depression than an appendage.
sTtrhuec thuarbe.it of the plant is extremely like that of Helonias angustifolia, but the sepals are of a very different
2. ZIGADENUS. Mich.
1. Z. chloranthus (Rich. App. p. 12); scapo pauci-folioso, racemo subsimplici, sepalis
obovatis obtusis, glandula obcordata profunde emarginata.—Z. commutatus. Schult. Syst.
Veget. 7. p. 1560. Hook, et Am. in Bot. of Beech, p. 161— Z. glaberrimus. Ker, Bot. Mag.
t. 1680. (not Mich.)—Z. glaucus? Nutt. PI. of Rocky M. p. 56. Gray. 1. c. p. 113.__
Melanthium glaucum? Nutt. Gen. 1. p. 232— /3. major; foliis longioribus, scapo pani-
culato— Z. speciosus. Dougl. mst.— Z. glaberrimus. Hook, et Arn. in Bot. of Beech, v. 160. (not Mich.)
H a b . Upper Canada. Nuttallf Goldie; to Great Bear Lake, and to the Rocky Mountains. Dr Richardson.
Drummond.—A Rocky Mountains (with «.), and to the vallies on the west side. Drummond.
Douglas. Murray Bay, Canada. Mrs Sheppard.—(To this var. I would refer the Californian Z. glaberrimus
of the Bot. of Beechey’s Voy.)—I am quite satisfied that the Z. glaberrimus of Bot. Mag. is this plant
and that it is a very distinct species from the real glaberrimus of Mx., of which I have Georgian specimens’
from Dr Torrey, in which the sepals are ovato-lanceolate, and the two glands are apart from each other and
very conspicuous:^here they are combined into one obcordate gland. The species is, however, liable to
considerable variation in the size, in the more or less leafy stem, in the length of the leaves, and in the more
or less paniculated raceme. I do not know whether to infer from the following remark of Nuttall that he
VOL. II. z