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American false hellebore, corn lily, green false-hellebore, Indian hellebore, Indian-poke, showy false hellebore, vérâtre verti

fringe cornlily, fringe false-hellebore

Stems

0.5–2 m, nearly glabrous to densely tomentose.

1–2 m, densely tomentose distally.

Leaves

ovate to elliptic, reduced distally, to lanceolate, 15–35 × 8–20 cm, glabrous to densely hairy, especially on abaxial surface.

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

Inflorescences

paniculate, with ascending to spreading or distinctly drooping (particularly in w North America) branches, 30–70 cm, tomentose;

bracts lanceolate, shorter than flowers.

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

bracts ovate to ovate-lanceolate, shorter than flowers.

Capsules

oblong-ovoid, 2–3 cm, glabrous.

oblong-ovoid, 8–10 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

flat, broadly winged, 8–10 mm.

± globose, wingless, 5–7 mm.

Tepals

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.

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 viride

Veratrum fimbriatum

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

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.)

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.)

Key
1. Inflorescence branches ascending to spreading, only rarely drooping; flowers spreading to rarely erect; east of 85th meridian.
var. viride
1. Inflorescence branches spreading to commonly drooping; flowers erect; west of 110th meridian.
var. eschscholzianum
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 74. FNA vol. 26, p. 74.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Veratrum Liliaceae > Veratrum
Sibling taxa
V. album, V. californicum, V. fimbriatum, V. insolitum
V. album, V. californicum, V. insolitum, V. viride
Subordinate taxa
V. viride var. eschscholzianum, V. viride var. viride
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 422. (1789) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 391. (1868)
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