veratreæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A tribe of liliaceous, sometimes bulbous, plants, characterized by a tall leafy stem, or with most of the leaves radical, and by panicled or racemed and chiefly polygamous flowers with confluent and finally orbicular-peltate anther-cells. The 33 species are classed in 6 genera, of which Schœnocaulon, Amianthium, Melanthium, and Zygadenus are confined to America; the others, Stenanthiuni and Veratrum (the type), occur also in the north of the Old World. They bear purple, greenish, or white (lowers, followed by septicidal capsules.