Veratrum fimbriatum |
Veratrum viride |
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fringe cornlily, fringe false-hellebore |
American false hellebore, corn lily, green false-hellebore, Indian hellebore, Indian-poke, showy false hellebore, vérâtre verti |
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Stems | 1–2 m, densely tomentose distally. |
0.5–2 m, nearly glabrous to densely tomentose. |
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Leaves | elliptic-lanceolate, reduced distally, 20–50 × 10–25 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. |
ovate to elliptic, reduced distally, to lanceolate, 15–35 × 8–20 cm, glabrous to densely hairy, especially on abaxial surface. |
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Inflorescences | paniculate, with spreading to ascending branches, 30–50 cm, densely tomentose; bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, shorter than flowers. |
paniculate, with ascending to spreading or distinctly drooping (particularly in w North America) branches, 30–70 cm, tomentose; bracts lanceolate, shorter than flowers. |
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Capsules | oblong-ovoid, 8–10 mm, glabrous. |
oblong-ovoid, 2–3 cm, glabrous. |
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Seeds | ± globose, wingless, 5–7 mm. |
flat, broadly winged, 8–10 mm. |
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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. |
deep green to yellowish, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, narrowed to short, broad claw, 5–12 mm, tomentose adaxially, margins of both whorls or at least inner obviously erose-serrulate; gland 1, basal, dark green or yellowish green, V-shaped; ovary glabrous; pedicel 2–10 mm. |
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2n | = 32. |
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Veratrum fimbriatum |
Veratrum viride |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–early fall. | |||||
Habitat | Wet meadows in coastal scrub | |||||
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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North America
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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 (2 in the flora). Veratrum viride consists of two clearly related, disjunct populations, one in eastern and one in western North America. These were clearly separated by continental glaciation and have subsequently evolved in isolation. Nonetheless they show many critical features in common, and individual plants from either region occasionally show one or more features common to plants in the other. The two populations have been variously classified as separate species, varieties, or subspecies, or as a single taxon. We have chosen to recognize two distinctive, if subtle, varieties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 74. | FNA vol. 26, p. 74. | ||||
Parent taxa | Liliaceae > Veratrum | Liliaceae > Veratrum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 391. (1868) | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 422. (1789) | ||||
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