keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

VERATRUM/MELANTHIACEAE
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circumscription of that genus (see Zigadenus for further discussion). � Many species of
Toxicoscordion (e.g., “DEATH CAMAS”) are poisonous due to the presence of Veratrum alkaloids.
Children have been poisoned from eating the bulbs or chewing the flowers, and deaths have been
reported from eating the bulbs; all parts of the plant, fresh or dried, should be considered poisonous;
toxins present include zygadenine, zygacine, and related alkaloids (Marsh et al. 1915;
Kupchan et al. 1961; Schmutz & Hamilton 1979; Stephens 1980; Ajilvsgi 1984; Fuller &
McClintock 1986; Foster & Caras 1994; Zomlefer 1997a; Burrows & Tyrl 2001; Schwartz 2002).
According to Correll and Johnston (1970) (who treated the species in the genus Zigadenus),
“When grazed, most of the species are usually fatal to sheep and some species even to cattle.”
Symptoms include muscle weakness, tremors, loss of motor coordination, foaming at the mouth
and nostrils, and vomiting. While lacking the characteristic odor and having a bitter bulb, toxic
Toxicoscordion species can be mistaken for wild onions (Weathers 1998; Bruneton 1999). They can
also be confused with edible Camassia (WILD-HYACINTH) species, resulting in the common name
DEATH-CAMAS (Burrows & Tyrl 2001). Native Americans used Toxicoscordion species medicinally
in a variety of ways (Moerman 1998). (Latin: toxicum, poison, and Greek: scordon, garlic, presumably
in reference to a similarity of the bulb to that of garlic)
REFERENCES: Preece 1956; Kupchan et al. 1961; McDearman 1984; Schwartz 1994; Zomlefer1997a;
Frame et al. 1999; Zomlefer et al. 2001; Schwartz 2002; Zomlefer & Judd 2002; Zomlefer 2003.
Toxicoscordion nuttallii (A. Gray) Rydb., (for Sir Thomas Nuttall, 1786–1859, English-American
botanist), NUTTALL’S DEATH-CAMAS, POISON-CAMAS, DEATH-CAMAS, MERRY-HEARTS, EASTER-
CANDLE, POISON-HYACINTH. Perennial, subscapose, glabrous herb 30–75(–100) cm tall, bulbose,
the outer bulb coats papery, not fibrous, the bulbs to ca. 4 cm wide; leaves crowded near base,
with short, tubular basal sheath (closed but very thin down side opposite blade, easily splitting);
inflorescence a raceme or a panicle with a few short branches near base, these flowerbearing
nearly to base; longest bracts usually 10–20 mm long; pedicels becoming 10–25(–35)
mm long; tepals all � alike, separate to base, usually (5–)6–8(–9) mm long, whitish to cream,
ovate, the inner (and sometimes outer as well) abruptly narrow and claw-like at base, each with
a yellowish gland at base, withering persistent; stamens 6; filaments widened at base; ovary superior;
fruit a 2-lobed capsule ca. 8–12(–16) mm long; 2n = 22 (Zomlefer 2003, in contrast to incorrect
literature reports of 32—e.g., Schwartz 2002). Prairies, open woods, often on calcareous
substrates, in relatively dry habitats; widespread in East TX w to West Cross Timbers and e Edwards
Plateau; AR, KS, MO, OK, and TX. Late Mar–early May. [Amianthium nuttallii A. Gray,
Toxicoscordion texense Rydb., Zigadenus texensis (Rydb.) J.F. Macbr., Zigadenus nuttallii (A.
Gray) S. Watson] All parts of the plant may be fatally poisonous to cattle, sheep, and horses due
to complex steroidal alkaloids (Sperry et al. 1955; Ajilvsgi 1984; Blackwell 1990); T. nuttallii is
considered the most toxic species in the genus (Burrows & Tyrl 2001). � m/303
VERATRUM L.
FALSE HELLEBORE, WHITE HELLEBORE, BUNCHFLOWER,
SKUNK-CABBAGE, CORN-LILY
AA n hemisphere genus of perhaps 29–34 species (Bodkin & Utech 2002; McNeal & Shaw
2002) of predominantly woodland and/or alpine perennial herbs (Zomlefer et al. 2003). Species
limits within the group are unsettled, with some authorities giving a wider range (17–45)
in the number of species (Zomlefer et al. 2003). The segregate genus Melanthium (4 species of e
North America) has often been treated separately (e.g., Bodkin & Utech 2002) or variously submerged
totally or in part into Veratrum (e.g., Zimmerman 1958; Kupchan et al. 1961; Zomlefer
1997a; Zomlefer et al. 2001; Zomlefer & Smith 2002). As recently as 2002, Bodkin and Utech
noted that, “Resolution of the problematical Melanthium–Veratrum species series will require
full molecular and phylogenetic analysis of the group, especially of the narrow-leaved Asian
Veratrum, several of which approximate Melanthium.” Recent work by Zomlefer et al. (2003)