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: DEATH CAMAS Stem: +- scapose. Leaf: +- basal, reduced upward, linear, generally folded, +- curved, entire, deciduous after 1 year. Inflorescence: raceme or panicle; flower bracts 1 (or reportedly 2). Flower: staminate, sterile, or generally bisexual; perianth parts 6, petal-like, free or +- fused to ovary base, white to +- yellow [or not], adaxially with [0]1[2] glands near base; stamens 6, free to +- attached to perianth; ovary superior, chambers 3, styles 3. Fruit: capsule, septicidal. Seed: many. Etymology: (Greek: poison garlic, for poisonous bulb) Toxicity: All taxa highly TOXIC (generally unpalatable) to livestock, humans from alkaloids (especially in bulbs). Note: As treated in TJM (1993), Zigadenus polyphyletic, so California members transferred to Toxicoscordion (Zomlefer & Judd 2002 Novon 12:299--308). eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal & Wendy B. Zomlefer
Toxicoscordion venenosum (S. Watson) Rydb. var. venenosum
NATIVE Habit: Bulb 12--25 mm diam, widely ovate; outer coat +- brown. Stem: 15--70 cm, glabrous. Leaf: 10--40 cm, 4--10 mm wide, scabrous-ciliate. Inflorescence: raceme except occasionally with 1 branch below, 5--25 cm; bracts 5--25 mm, white-membranous to generally green; pedicels in fruit spreading to generally ascending, 3--25 mm. Flower: bisexual; perianth parts 4--6 mm, +- ovate, obtuse, outer generally with claw < 5 mm, inner clawed, gland distal margin evident or not; stamens =, occasionally > perianth; styles erect. Fruit: 8--14 mm, cylindric. Chromosomes: n=11. Ecology: Moist meadows to dry rocky hillsides; Elevation: < 2600 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaR, SN, CW, WTR, PR, GB, DMtns; Distribution Outside California: to British Columbia, central United States, Arizona, northern Baja California. Flowering Time: May--Jul Synonyms: Zigadenus venenosus S. Watson var. venenosus Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal & Wendy B. Zomlefer Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Toxicoscordion paniculatum Next taxon: Trillium
Botanical illustration including Toxicoscordion venenosum var. venenosum
Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal & Wendy B. Zomlefer 2012, Toxicoscordion venenosum var. venenosum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=93851, 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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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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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).
