Flora Medica

HELONIAS.about 4 feet long, lax. Scape naked, the height of a man, quite simple,terminated by a raceme 1| foot long. Perianth deeply 6-parted,spreading, yellowish, white, permanent, with linear thick obtuse segments,3 of which are rather broader than the others. Filaments 6,somewhat clavate, yellowish, inserted into the base of the perianth,those opposite its broadest segments longer than the others, and alllonger than the perianth anthers rather ;large, yellow, cordate, obtuse.Ovary formed of 3 cells, united by their sutures. Fruit 3-capsular;the carpels united by their suture, but separable. Lower flowers hermaphroditeand fertile, maleupperand sterile. Smell of the flowerslike that of Berberis vulgaris. Schiede. This was ascertained by Messrs.Schiede and Deppe to produce at least part of the Sabadilla seeds of theshops, the use of which has now become so general for the manufactureof Veratria. Their taste is bitter, acrid, and permanent. As there arepossibly several allied species producing seeds of the same quality, Ihave preferred quoting the words of Dr. Schiede, to describing theplant from what I believe to be specimens of it in my possession. It iscertainly not a Veratrum, to which Schiede and Deppe, Schlechtendahland Endlicher have referred it : but I am far from asserting thatit is an Helonias. It is, however, more nearly allied to that genus andaccordingly it may be left for the present where Professor Don hasplaced it. Its seeds are the officinal part, and are used as those ofVeratrum Sabadilla.1240. H. frigida. Veratrum frigidum Schlecht. in Linn.vi. 4-6. The alpine region of Mount Orizaba, in Mexico.Bulb oblong, attenuated, tunicated, caespitose. Leaves linear, channelled,tapering to the point, erect, sheathing the bulb at the base, thelower ones above a foot long. Stem leafy, 3 feet high and more, taper,broken up at the point into a compound panicle or raceme. Branchesand flowers supported by linear-lanceolate bracts. Flowers solitary,stalked. Perianth deeply 6-parted ; segments narrow-lanceolate, taperedto the point, ^ an inch long, equal, blackish brown. Filaments 6,linear subulate, the 3 outer rather longer, about 3 times as short as theperianth anthers cordate, obtuse, ; yellow. Ovary half superior ; thecarpels distinct as far as the division of the perianth ; in the upperflowers abortive. A poisonous plant called Savoeja by the Mexicans.Horses that eat it become stupified.1241. H. erythrosperma Michx. fl. am. sept.i. 212. Torreyfi. i. 369. H. Iseta Bot. mag.t. 803. Melanthium laetumAit. Kew. i. 488. M. phalangioides Lam. enc. iv. 28. M. muscaetoxicum.Walt. car. 125. Anthericum subtrigynum Jacq.ic.rar.ii. 419. United States, in moist situations, on riverbanks and on high mountains.Root bulbous. Stem 2 feet high, leafy, obtusely angular, simple,very smooth. Leaves a foot or more in length, 3-4 lines broad, mostlyradical, somewhat caricine. Raceme terminal, 3-4 inches long, simple ;pedicels nearly an inch in length, filiform, spreading; bracts ovate,obtuse. Flowers of an inch in diameter, white, becoming greenishwith age. Petals oblong, obtuse, sessile. Stamens rather longer thanthe flowers ;filaments subulate, inserted at the base of the petals ;anthers white, roundish. Ovaries 3, superior, divaricate at the summit ;587