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fringe cornlily, fringe false-hellebore

white false hellebore

Stems

1–2 m, densely tomentose distally.

Leaves

elliptic-lanceolate, reduced distally, 20–50 × 10–25 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy.

Inflorescences

paniculate, with spreading to ascending branches, 30–50 cm, densely tomentose;

bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, shorter than flowers.

Capsules

oblong-ovoid, 8–10 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

± globose, wingless, 5–7 mm.

Tepals

white, rhomboid-ovate to ovate, not clawed, 6–9 mm, margins ± deeply and irregularly fimbriate;

glands 2, basal, ± mid tepal, yellow, elliptic;

ovary glabrous;

pedicel 6–12 mm.

2n

= 32.

Veratrum fimbriatum

Veratrum album

Phenology Flowering summer–early fall.
Habitat Wet meadows in coastal scrub
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
nw Alaska; Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

This showy Veratrum species differs from others in its fragrant flowers with deeply fringed tepals, wingless seeds, and auxiliary bulbs in the lower leaf sheaths, and is restricted as a paleo-endemic to a 96-km coastal stretch of Sonoma and Mendocino counties (C. A. Taylor 1956, 1956b).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

This is the only Veratrum species to occur in Europe, Asia, and North America, and it is probably more widespread in northwestern Alaska than reported. Veratrum album is highly variable in size, flower color, pedicel length, and hairiness, and it has an extensive synonymy in Eurasia. Within the species at large, a polyploid series that includes 4x, 9x, 10x, and 12x accompanies the complex variability among constituent populations (M. N. Tamura 1998).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 74. FNA vol. 26, p. 76.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Veratrum Liliaceae > Veratrum
Sibling taxa
V. album, V. californicum, V. insolitum, V. viride
V. californicum, V. fimbriatum, V. insolitum, V. viride
Subordinate taxa
V. album var. oxysepalum
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 391. (1868) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1044. (1753)
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