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Vascular Plants of California
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Veratrum
CORN LILY, FALSE-HELLEBORE

Higher Taxonomy
Family: MelanthiaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

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.
Veratrum
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.
Species In Genus: +- 25 species: northern temperate. Etymology: (Latin: dark roots) Toxicity: Alkaloids used medicinally and TOXIC to both livestock and humans.
Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Key to Veratrum

Previous taxon: Trillium ovatum subsp. ovatum
Next taxon: Veratrum californicum var. californicum

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Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal 2012, Veratrum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9566, accessed on May 13, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on May 13, 2024.