This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol1", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
A low acaulescent rather fleshy herb, from a short rootstock, the roots thick, fibrous. Outer leaves membranous, acute, short; inner leaves linear, elongated, the innermost reduced to bracts. Flowers large, white, umbellate from the subterranean axils. Pedicels filiform. Perianth with a very narrow tube and a salverform limb, persistent, the 6 linear-oblong lobes spreading, nerved, shorter than the tube. Stamens borne near the top of the perianth-tube, shorter than the lobes; filaments filiform; anthers linear, their sacs introrsely dehiscent. Ovary ovoid, 3-celled; style filiform, stigma small. Capsule oval or obo-void, 3-angled, sessile, loculicidal. Seeds several in each cavity, angled. [Greek, white lily.]
A monotypic genus of northwestern North America.
Fig. 1241
L. montanum Nutt.; A.Gray, Ann. Lye. N. Y.4: no. 1837.
Root-fibers very thick, numerous. Inner leaves 2'-10' long, 1"-3" wide; flowers 3-8; pedicels ¥-2' long; perianth-limb about 1/2 broad, the lobes acute; perianth-tube 1'-2' long, less than 1" in diameter; filaments 3"-4" long; anthers coiled at least when dry; capsule 3"-4" long, erect, leathery; seeds black.
In sandy soil, South Dakota and Nebraska to Montana, Oregon, Colorado and California. April-June.
 
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