CONVALLARIA POLYGONATUM. ANGÜLAR-
STALKED SOLOMON’S-SEAL.
CONVALLARIA Polygonatum, foliis ovato-ellipticis altéfnis, caule ancipiti angulato; pedunculis
axillaribus uniflóris; filamentis glabris, stylo recto. • ' -
CONVALLARIA Polygonatum, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 451. Huds. Angl. p. 146. With. Bot. A m
ed. 4. vol. 2, p. 335. Smith 'Fl. B r it. p. 571. Engl. Bot. t. 280. Öeder Fl.
D a n .t. 161. Willd. Sp. PI. vol. 2. p. 161. Lam. Diet. vol. 4, p. 368. Decand.
Fl. Fr. vol. 3. p. 176. Fl. Gall. Syn. p . 154. A lt. Hort. K m . ed. 2. vol. 2.
p. 279. Both Germ. vol. 2. p. 388.
POLYGONATUM vulgare. ■ Desfont. in Anti. du Mus. vol. 9,
POLYGONATUM caule simplici, anguloso, ceniuo, foliis ovato-lanceolatis, rigidis, alis uniflóris,
Hall. Iiélv. n. 1242.
POLYGONATUM floribus ex singularibus pedicülis. B aii Syn. p. 263.
Bohem. Kokorjkowykoren. Dan. Hvidrod. Sminkerod. Dut. Salomon's Zegel. Fr. L ’Her be de ld
Rupture. L e Genowllet. Germ. Die Weisswurz. Die grosse Wcisswurzcl. Hung-. Kaltas sarle
J ti Gyenge-gyökér. It. I I Ginocchietto. Norw. Gjetrams. Gjetslciörp. Pol. ICokoryezlea. Krowka-
ziele. Port. Oscello de Salomao, Russ. Kuperna. Sp. E l sello de Salomon. Swed. Bdkblad.
Class a n d Order. H EX A N D R IA MONOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. SMILACEjE, B r . ASPARAGI, Juts. ASPARAGEjE, Decandolle.]
Gen. Char. Pei'ianthium* globosum aut cylindraceum, sex-dentatum; Stamina sex; Bacca globosa, ante nia-
turitatem maculata, tri-locularis, loculis monospermis. Decand.
Gen . Char. Perianth* globose or cylindrical, six-toothed; Stamens six ; Be rry globose, spotted before it is
ripe, three-celled, the cells monospefinous. Decand:
Radix horizontalis, carnosa, nodosa, alba, fibras sim-
plices v. ramosas pubescentes hie illic emittens.
Caulis simplex, palmäris v. dodrantalis, anceps, angu-
latus, basi denudatus, vaginatus, vaginis striatis,
fuscis, deinde oblique ascendens, curvatus, folio-
FoLiAsesquiuncialia, subsecunda, alterna, sessilia, ovato-
elliptica, basi contracta, semi-amplexicaulia, ri-
gidiuscula, supra viridia, longitudinaliter striata,
subtus glaucescentia, nervis prominentibus instruct
».
PeDüNCULI axillares, solitarii, uniflori.
Flores retrorsum (seuad latus posterius) spectantes, nu-
tantes, albi, apice viridés.
Perianthium monopetalum, cylindraceum, tubulo-
sum, medium versus contractum, apice dilata-
tum, sex-divisum, laciniis erecto-patentibus, ova-
tis, barbàtis.
Stamina sex, tubi fere longitudine, atque ejus medium
versus inserta : Filamenta alba, omnino glabra,
fig- % Antheræ oblongæ, flavæ, biloculares :
Pollen minutum, sphæricum.
Ovarium ovatô-globosum, lineis longitudinalibus tribus.
Stylus staminum longitudine, filiformis,
rectus. Stigma trilobum, lobis patentibus, hirsu-
tis, albis.
PericArpium non vidi.
Fig. 1. A Flower longitudinally dissected, fig.
Root horizontal, fleshy, knotted, white, throwing out
here and there simple or branched pubescent
fibres.
Stem simple, from a span to a foot high, compressed,
angulate, naked at the base, sheathed, with the
sheaths striated, brown, thence obliquely ascending,
curved, leafy.
Leaves an inch and a half long, alternate, sessile, ovato-
elliptical, at the base contracted, partly embracing
the stem, mostly inclining one way, somewhat rigid;
above green, longitudinally striated, beneath
-glaucous, furnished with prominent nerves.
PEDUNCLES axillary, solitary, one-flowered.
Flowers pointing backwards (or to the posterior side),
nodding, white, green at the apex.
Perianth monopetalous, cylindrical, tubular, contracted
towards the middle, expanded at the
apex, where it has six divisions, whose segments
are erecto-patent, ovate, barbate.
Stamens six, about the length o f the tube, and inserted
near its middle: Filaments white, entirely smooth,
fig . 2. : Anthers oblong, yellow, two-celled: Pob
len minute, spherical.
Ovary ovato-globose, with three longitudinal marks.
Style the length of the stamens, filiform, straight.
Stigma three-lobed, with the lobes spreading,
hairy, white.
Pericarp I have not seen.
2. A Stamen, fig . 3. Pollen, fig . 4. Stigma.—All more or
less magnified.
I t is remarkable that no one should have noticed two important characters by which this plant may more surely
be known from its affinity C. multiflora than by any other : these are the smoothness of the filaments and the
straightness of the style. Further differences may be found in the smaller size, in the compressed and annulate
stem, somewhat rigid leaves, in the solitary flowers, and their larger size in proportion to that o f the plant*
The only stations given for. this plant are Chawton-park near Alton, Hampshire; Tenby, in Pembrokeshire-
coppices about Alderbury, Wiltshire; about Settle and Ingleton, Yorkshire; in woods a t East Ilarptree-under-
Mendip; Somersetshire, and Mr. Graves informs us he has found it and Multiflora, m considerable abundance,
in Joyden s and other vvoods near Bexley and Dartford, Kent. Thus it appears to be of much less frequent occurrence
than P . multiflora, though, as Sir James Smith justly observes, it may have been overlooked from its
resemblance to that species.
Ray mentions a “ Polygonatum Hellebori albijolio, caule purpurascente,” found by Mr. Bobart in woods on the
north side of Mendip Hills, which is considered in the Flora Britannica as a variety merely of C. Polmonatum
. but I know not upon what authority.
Convallaria has been divided into many genera by M. Desfontaines, in a Memoir published in the ninth volume
of the Annales du Muséum : the species indigenous to Great Britain into two; of which C. may alis retains the
name o f Convallaria, whilst to C. Polygonatum, C. multiflora, and C. vcrticilluta, is restored the old generic appellation
of Polygonatum. This arrangement has not been adopted by other botanists, since the only difference is
for Convallaria to have a campanulate corolla, near the base of'which the stamens are inserted, a raceme o f flowers
and radical leaves ; in opposition to the cylindrical corolla, having the stamens attached near the middle or superior
p a r t o f it, the axillary flowers, and the cauline leaves o f Polygonatum.
By Jussieu and Decandolle Convallaria was included in the order of Asparagi ; but Mr. Brown removed it,
along with Paris and some other ex-otic genera, to his Smilacece, an order differing from-his berry-bearing genera of
Asphodcleæ (B r. Asphodcli et Asparagi plcrique, Juss.), next which it is to be placed, in nothing but the habit, in
the style being generally divided, and in the teguments of the seed.
In some parts of Sweden the roots are made into bread in times of scarcity ; and Lamarck says that he has often
eaten the roots prepared like the young shoots of asparagus.
* I follow Brown and Mirbel in calling the simple floral integument