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Key to families | Table of families and genera

This text currently parallels The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition that is now available at the University of California Press.

Text appearing in blue on this page will not appear in the printed book; it will be displayed only on the Web. Specimen numbers are hyperlinked to records in the Consortium of California Herbaria data view where possible. Taxa are hyperlinked to entries in the Jepson Interchange via the "[Online Interchange]" link.

 

VERATRUM CORN LILY, FALSE-HELLEBORE
Plant coarse, leafy; rhizome thick.
Stem: erect, 1–2 m, simple, hollow.
Leaf: many, alternate, lanceolate to widely ovate, clasping, generally acute at tip, coarse-veined, reduced upward.
Inflorescence: panicle; flowers many.
Flower: bisexual or staminate; perianth parts 6, free, spreading, petal-like, white or ± green to red-brown, nectary glands 1–2 near base; stamens 6, attached to perianth; ovary ± inferior, chambers 3, styles 3, short, stigmas long.
Fruit: capsule, septicidal.
± 25 species: n temperate. (Latin: dark roots) Alkaloids used medicinally and TOXIC to both livestock and humans.

Key to Veratrum

1. Ovary woolly, fruit ± woolly; outer perianth parts irregularly shallowly fringed ..... V. insolitum

1' Ovary, fruit glabrous or with only a few straight hairs, not woolly; perianth parts entire to deeply fringed

2. Perianth deeply fringed ..... V. fimbriatum

2' Perianth entire to finely dentate

3. Infl dense, branches crowded, spreading to ascending ..... V. californicum var. californicum

3' Infl open, branches ± spaced, lower drooping ..... V. viride

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].
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