Veratrum speciosum Rydb.

  • Authority

    New York Botanical Garden. Herbarium of Dr. Per Axel Rydberg. Purchased, 1899. Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden.

  • Family

    Melanthiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Veratrum speciosum Rydb.

  • Description

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    Species Description - A stout, more or less pubescent, very leafy plant, 1-3 m. high. Leaves, except the uppermost, broadly oval, 2-3 dm. long, 1-2 dm. wide, obtuse or acute, glabrous above, finely soft-pubescent beneath, sessile and sheathing: panicle many-flowered with ascending branches: bracts lanceolate, foliaceous: bractlets membranous, yellowish, ovate, acuminate, shorter than the flowers and pedicels: petals and sepals yellowish white, oval or broadly oblanceolate, mostly obtuse, 5-7-nerved, 8-10 mm. long, 4-5 mm. wide: capsule oblong, about 3 cm. long and 12 mm. in diameter: seeds oblong, 7—8 mm. long with a wide white wing-margin.

  • Discussion

    In looking over the specimens of V. Californicum in the Columbia Herbarium I found one specimen collected in Oregon on the Wilkes' Expedition, which looked very unlike the rest, having a narrower and denser panicle and narrower and more acutish petals and sepals. I took it out and placed it in the cover used for the specimens not named. I found in that cover a similar specimen. On the label was given neither locality nor the collector's name ; but on the sheet was pasted a paper with a tracing of the basal leaves, the description of V. Californicum E. Durand and some remarks, among others the words "petiole 3-4 inches long." The specimens are presumably a part of the type of V. Californicum or at least have been compared with Durand's specimens and the notes made by Durand himself Durand in his description expressively states that the lower stem-leaves are petioled. As this is never the case in the plant of the northern Rockies and the Columbia Valley, I am certain that the plant generally regarded as V. Californicum and from which Dr. Watson's description in his revision was mainly drawn is perfectly distinct from Durand's plant. The latter is a rare plant judging from the fact that I have not seen more than the two specimens mentioned above.

    V. speciosum ranges from Montana to Washington, California and Colorado, reaching a maximum altitude of 2,500 m. Montana: Bridger Mountains, 1896, Flodman, 344 (type); Little Belt Mountains, 344 ½ Bozeman, P. Koch ; Deer Lodge Co., Emma Ware; Belt Park, 1886, R. S. Williams, 475 Belt Creek, 1883, Scribner, 287 ; Lo-Lo Creek, 1880, Watson. Idaho: Lake Pend d'Oreille, 1892, Sandberg, MacDoiigal & Heller, 741 ; Kootenay Co., 1886, J. H. Sandberg ; Lake Waha, 1896, A. A. & E. Gertrude Heller, 3380 ; 1892, Isabel Mulford Utah : Heber Valley, 1869, S. Watson, 1165 ; American Fork Canon, 1880, M. E.Jones. Washington: 1889, G. R. Vasey. Oregon : J.S. Newberry. California: Modoc Co., 1893, M. S. Baker; 1865, H. N. Bolander, 6255 ; Mt. Shasta, 1897, H. E. Broivn. Colorado: Pagosa Peak, 1899, C. F. Baker, 258 (?) . (This has smaller flowers, petals and sepals being only 6-8 mm. long.)