_Bunch-Flower Family_
Lily-like plants with leafy stems, usually with tufts of grass-like
leaves at the base and rootstocks or occasionally bulbs.
The flowers small and distinctly 6-parted, with the same number of
stamens and three styles; the flowers grow in close heads at the top of
the stems.
Anthers, 1-celled.
Leaves broad, petioles sheathing. =Veratrum.=
Leaves grass-like.
Flowers erect with a gland at the base of each petal.
=Zygadenus.=
Flowers nodding, petals without glands. =Stenanthella.=
Anthers, 2-celled. =Tofieldia.=
[Sidenote: =Veratrum viride= Ait. _American White Hellebore._]
Stem 2—8 feet high, very leafy, softly hairy especially above. Leaves
dark green above, paler and hairy beneath, prominently veiny and
sheathing at the base, oval or elliptic, acute, 6—12 inches long,
3—6 inches broad, the upper becoming successively narrower. Flowers
yellowish-green, numerous in a spreading head often 2 feet long, with
drooping branches; perianth segments oblong or oblanceolate, acute, ¼—½
an inch long, twice as long as the stamens.
In swamps and on moist slopes and stream borders throughout the region,
frequently growing in great masses. In the Rockies it seldom grows
below 6000 feet elevation, but is found much lower in the moist valley
of the Selkirks.
[Sidenote: =Zygadenus elegans= Pursh. _Tall Zygadenus._]
Very glaucous throughout, with a cluster of narrow, grass-like leaves
5—10 inches long and ¼ inch broad, from a chaffy bulbous root; stem
whitish-green or purplish, 1—2 feet high, with scattered, purple,
leaf-like bracts and an open head of flowers 4—12 inches long; flowers
greenish-white, open, ½ an inch or more across the six petals and
sepals with a large, bright green gland at the base; stamens 6, erect,
forming a central column, anthers scarlet on the opening of the bud,
changing to yellow; styles 3.
Throughout the Rockies up to 6000 or 7000 feet elevation, in all kinds
of situations and soils, a most attractive plant worthy, of a place in
the flower-garden, blossoming during midsummer.
[Illustration: Zygadenus elegans Pursh. (½ Nat.) Tall Zygadenus.]
[Illustration: Zygadenus gramineus Rydb. (½ Nat.) Zygadenus.]
[Sidenote: =Zygadenus gramineus= Rydb. _Grass-like Zygadenus._]
A slender, yellowish-green plant 8—12 inches high, from an elongated
ovoid bulb. Leaves narrow and grass-like, rough on the margins and
midribs, all with sheaths around the stem. Flowers light yellow, ¼ of
an inch broad in a compact head 2—3 inches long; stamens exserted,
anthers yellow.
On open grassy hillsides in the Rockies from Banff to Castle Mountain,
flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Stenanthella occidentalis= (A. Gray) Rydb. _Stenthium._]
Smooth 12—18 inches high from a bulbous base. Leaves 2—3 from the same
root, 8—10 inches long, ½ an inch broad, spreading. Flowers 6—20,
greenish-purple, ½ an inch long, open, drooping, in a simple slender
head; sepals and petals 3 each, with recurved tips; stamens 6, included.
In moist woods throughout the Rockies, growing in moss; the dark green,
widely spreading leaves and wand-like stem of drooping bell-like
flowers, making a graceful and attractive plant during early summer.
[Sidenote: =Tofieldia palustris= Huds. _Scottish Asphodel._]
Low with numerous tufted grass-like leaves 1—2 inches long. Flowers
6-parted, minute, greenish-white in a compact oblong head ¼ of an inch
long, elongated in fruiting; stamens 6; anthers yellow not exceeding
the perianth; head of flowers borne on a slender, smooth stem 3—7
inches high.
Abundant throughout the Rockies in damp sandy or gravelly ground, on
the flood-plains and banks of rivers and streams and on the gravelly
shores of lakes and ponds; flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Tofieldia intermedia= Rydb. _False Asphodel._]
Plant with a cluster of grass-like leaves, 3—8 inches long and about
¼ of an inch broad, yellowish-green, from an oblique and chaffy
rootstock. Flowers few, less than ¼ of an inch long, pale yellow,
6-parted, on very short pedicels; stamens 6, slightly exserted, with
purple anthers; the whole in a compact head about ½ an inch long, on a
stem 8—10 inches high, with sticky hairs near the top.
[Illustration: _a_ Stenanthella occidentalis (A. Gray) Rydb.
Stenanthium.
_b_ Clintonia uniflora Kunth. Clintonia. (⅔ Nat.)]
Frequent throughout the region at an altitude of 4000 to 5000 feet, in
wet open situations with shallow soil; flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Tofieldia occidentalis= S. Wats. _Western False Asphodel._]
Similar to the preceding but readily distinguished by its taller stem
and more open head of flowers, with longer sepals and pedicels, which
are twice as long in each case.
In the Selkirks only, but frequent there in the bogs around Roger’s
Pass.