Common Name: FALSE-HELLEBORE FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, from rhizome or bulb, or rhizomes ending in weakly developed bulbs, scapose or not. Leaf: alternate, whorled, or mostly basal and spirally arranged, deciduous after 1 year or not. Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, or flowers 1. Flower: perianth parts 6, in 2 petal-like whorls or of sepals and petals, free or fused below, +- spreading; stamens 6, from perianth, anthers attached at base or near middle; ovary superior or partly inferior, chambers 3, styles 3, persistent. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal or septicidal. Genera In Family: 10 genera, 130 species: northern hemisphere. Note: W North America Zigadenus moved to Toxicoscordion. eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal, except as noted Scientific Editor: Dale W. McNeal, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: CORN LILY, FALSE-HELLEBORE Habit: 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. Etymology: (Latin: dark roots) Toxicity: Alkaloids used medicinally and TOXIC to both livestock and humans.
Veratrum californicum Durand var. californicum
NATIVE Leaf: ovate; lower 20--40 cm, tomentose-ciliate, abaxially curly-hairy, adaxially glabrous or veins sparsely short-hairy. Inflorescence: generally 30--60 cm, dense, tomentose; branches crowded, spreading to ascending; pedicels 1--6 mm. Flower: 10--15 mm; perianth parts elliptic to obovate, white or +- green, glabrous to sparsely woolly below, entire to finely dentate, glands 1--2, Y-shaped, green; stamens 1/2--2/3 perianth; ovary glabrous. Fruit: 2--3 cm, narrowly ovoid. Seed: 10--12 mm, +- winged. Chromosomes: n=16. Ecology: Streambanks, moist meadows, forest edges; Elevation: < 3500 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaRH, SNH, TR, PR, MP, SNE (Sweetwater Mtns); Distribution Outside California: to Washington, Montana, Colorado, Mexico. Flowering Time: Jul--Aug Synonyms: Veratrum californicum var. caudatum (A. Heller) C.L. Hitchc. Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Veratrum Next taxon: Veratrum fimbriatum
Botanical illustration including Veratrum californicum var. californicum
Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal 2012, Veratrum californicum var. californicum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=67511, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
