Stems 2 to 5 feet tall, from a stout rootstock bearing several subglobose, scaly, white bulbs. Leaves in whorls of four to ten or some of them alternate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 2 to 6 inches long, one-fourth to 1¼ inches wide, finely roughened on the margins and on the veins beneath. Flowers one to sixteen, nodding on long peduncles at the top of the stem; perianth segments 2 to 3 inches long, yellow or red, usually thickly spotted, recurved or spreading; fruit an oblong, erect capsule 1 to 2 inches long.

Common in swamps, moist meadows, and fields. Nova Scotia to Minnesota, Georgia, Alabama and Nebraska. Flowering in July and August. A common and most attractive wild flower of the east, more abundant than the Turk's-cap Lily (Lilium superbum Linnaeus), which has similar but usually larger flowers, usually orange-red and purple-spotted, more strongly recurved flower segments and leaves smooth and not roughened on the margins or veins as in L. canadense.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 11

American White Hellebore; Indian Poke - Veratrum viride