Bulb: ovoid, membranous, coated. Stems: slender. Leaves: very glaucous, narrow; bracts long-keeled, lanceolate, rather large. Flowers. in a single raceme, or a large panicle, its branches slender, ascending, the perianth adnate to the base of the ovary, its segments broadly oval, the inner abruptly contracted to a short claw, gland obcordate. Fruit: seeds oblong, angular.

A tall attractive plant whose branching stems are covered by many round creamy flowers splashed with green. These flowers are six-parted and have a number of brown-tipped stamens clustered about the large green base of the pistil. The capsule, or dry fruit, which develops as the floral leaves die and drop off, is three-lobed and very large. The leaves of the Green Lily are long and narrow and are covered with a whitish bloom.

Plate IX

Green Lily (Zygadcnus elegans)

Zygadcnus venenosus, or Poisonous Green Lily, is a slightly shorter, smaller species of this genus, also frequently found in the mountain regions. Its yellowish-green flowers grow closely together and it has roughish leaves. So poisonous is this plant that animals frequently die from the effects of eating it.