A rather small family, widely distributed, growing in fresh-water
swamps and streams. The leaves are all from the root, with long
sheathing leaf-stalks, and the flowers are regular and perfect, or with
only pistils or only stamens; the sepals three; the petals three; the
stamens six or more; the ovaries numerous, superior, developing into
dry, one-seeded nutlets.
There are a good many kinds of Sagittaria, with fibrous roots and milky
juice; the leaves are usually arrow-shaped; the lower flowers usually
pistillate and the upper ones usually staminate; the stamens are
numerous and the numerous ovaries are closely crowded and form roundish
heads. The name is from the Latin for "arrow," referring to the shape
of the leaves.
[Sidenote: =Arrowhead=
_Sagittària latifòlia_
=White
Summer
North America=]
An attractive and very decorative plant, with stout, smooth, hollow
flower-stems, from eight inches to four feet tall, with very handsome,
smooth, olive-green leaves and papery bracts. The flowers are about an
inch across, with delicately crumpled, white petals and yellow anthers,
forming a bright golden center, and the plants look very pretty
standing along the edges of ponds. The leaves are exceedingly variable
both in size and shape. This is found throughout North America. The
tubers are edible and hence the plant is often called Tule Potato, and
they are much eaten by the Chinese in California. The Indian name is
Wapato.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Arrowhead--Sagittaria latifolia.]
LILY FAMILY. _Liliaceae_.
A wonderfully beautiful family, large and widely distributed, mostly
perennial herbs, growing from bulbs or root-stocks, with perfect,
regular, symmetrical flowers and toothless leaves. The flower-cup
almost always has six divisions, the outer often called sepals and the
inner petals. The six stamens are opposite the divisions and sometimes
three of them are without anthers. The styles or stigmas are three and
the ovary is superior, developing into a three-celled capsule or berry,
containing few or many seeds.
There are several kinds of Anthericum, rather small, lily-like plants,
with grasslike leaves, springing from the base and surrounded by the
fibrous remnants of older leaves. The slender stems are leafless, or
have one, very small, dry leaf; the roots thick and fleshy-fibrous; the
flowers yellow, on pedicels jointed near the middle; the style long and
slender; the pod oblong, containing several flattened, angular seeds in
each cell. They are common in rocky soil, at altitudes of six thousand
to nine thousand feet, from western Texas to Arizona.
[Sidenote: =Amber Lily=
_Anthéricum Tórreyi_
=Yellow
Summer
Arizona=]
A beautiful little plant, with delicate flowers, unusual and pretty in
coloring. It grows from eight to fifteen inches tall and has a slender,
pale-green stem, springing from a clump of graceful, pale bluish-green,
grasslike leaves. The flowers are about three quarters of an inch long,
pale orange or corn-color, with a narrow stripe on each division; the
pistil green, with an orange stigma; the anthers yellow. The flowers
fade almost as soon as they bloom. This grows in open woods.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Amber Lily--Anthericum Torreyi.]
[Illustration]
There are several kinds of Zygadene, natives of North America and
Siberia. They mostly have coated bulbs, resembling onions, and white
or greenish flowers, in clusters, the leaves long, smooth, folded
lengthwise and springing mostly from the root. The flowers are perfect
or polygamous, the six divisions alike, with one or two, greenish,
glandular spots at the base of each; the styles three, distinct;
the fruit a three-lobed capsule, with several or many seeds in each
compartment. The name is from the Greek for "yoke" and "gland," because
some kinds have a couple of glands on each division of the flower.
[Sidenote: =Poison Sego=
_Zygadènus paniculàtus_
=Cream-white
Spring, summer
Utah, Nev., Idaho=]
A handsome, rather stout plant, about a foot tall, with bright
light-green, smooth, graceful leaves sheathing the stem, which has a
papery bract around its base. The flowers are in clusters varying in
shape, sometimes growing in a long, loose raceme and sometimes in a
closer, pointed cluster. The divisions of the rather small, cream-white
flowers have short claws, with a yellow gland and a stamen at the
base of each. The stamens are conspicuous, with swinging, yellow,
shield-shaped anthers, and are at first longer than the three styles,
which gradually lengthen and, together with the stamens, give a
delicate, feathery appearance to the whole flower cluster. This grows
on dry hillsides and in meadows. The bulb is very poisonous.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Poison Sego--Zygadenus paniculatus.]
[Sidenote: =Zygadene=
_Zygadènus élegans_
=White
Summer
U. S.=]
A handsome graceful plant, with one or more stiff stems, from six
inches to three feet tall, springing from a large clump of rather
stiff, bluish-green leaves, covered with a pale "bloom," and bearing
fine clusters of cream-white flowers, less than an inch across, their
divisions united below and adhering to the base of the ovary and each
with a sticky, bright-green, heart-shaped gland. This grows in moist
places in the mountains, across the continent.
[Sidenote: =Star Zygadene=
_Zygadènus Fremóntii_
=White
Spring, summer
California=]
Much like the last, but the foliage with less "bloom" and the flowers
handsomer and rather larger. Their divisions are free from the ovary,
only the inner divisions have claws, and the glands are greenish-yellow
and toothed. This grows among bushes, on hillsides and sea-cliffs along
the coast.
[Sidenote: =Death Camass=
_Zygadènus venenòsus_
=White
Spring
Wash., Oreg., Cal.=]
Not nearly so handsome as the two last, but a pretty plant, from one to
two feet tall, with dull-green leaves, folded lengthwise, with rough
edges. The cream-colored flowers are less than half an inch across,
striped with green on the outside, their divisions free from the ovary
and all with claws, with roundish, greenish-yellow glands, not toothed,
and with long stamens. This grows in meadows and the bulb is very
poisonous except to hogs, so it is often called Hog's Potato.
There are several kinds of Veratrum, natives of the north temperate
zone; tall, perennial herbs, with thick, short, poisonous rootstocks;
stems tall and leafy, more or less hairy; leaves broad, plaited, with
conspicuous veins; flowers more or less downy, polygamous, whitish or
greenish, in a cluster, their six, separate divisions colored alike,
adhering to the base of the ovary, without glands, or nearly so, and
without claws; stamens opposite the divisions, with heart-shaped
anthers; styles three; capsule three-lobed, with several flat,
broadly-winged seeds in each compartment. Veratrum is the ancient name
for Hellebore.
[Illustration: Zygadene--Z. elegans.