2. Y. filamentòsa, L. (Adam's Needle.) Caudex 1° high or less, from a running rootstock; leaves numerous, coriaceous, more or less tapering to a short point, rough on the back, 1½–2° long by 1–3´ wide, filiferous on the margin; panicle pyramidal, densely flowered, on a stout bracteate scape, 4–9° high; flowers large; stigmas pale, elongated; capsule 1½´ long; seeds 3´´ broad.—Near the coast, Md. to Fla. and La. July. Very variable.
10. CONVALLÀRIA, L. Lily of the Valley.
Perianth bell-shaped (white), 6-lobed, deciduous; the lobes recurved. Stamens 6, included, inserted on the base of the perianth; anthers introrse. Ovary 3-celled, tapering into a stout style; stigma triangular. Ovules 4–6 in each cell. Berry few-seeded (red).—A low perennial herb, glabrous, stemless, with slender running rootstocks, sending up from a scaly-sheathing bud 2 oblong leaves, with their long sheathing petioles enrolled one within the other so as to appear like a stalk, and an angled scape bearing a one-sided raceme of pretty and sweet-scented nodding flowers. (Altered from Lilium convallium, the popular name.)
1. C. majàlis, L.—High mountains of Va. to S. C. Apparently identical with the European Lily of the Valley of the gardens.
11. POLYGONÀTUM, Tourn. Solomon's Seal.
Perianth cylindrical-oblong, 6-lobed at the summit; the 6 stamens inserted on or above the middle of the tube, included; anthers introrse. Ovary 3-celled. with 2–6 ovules in each cell; style slender, deciduous by a joint; stigma obtuse or capitate, obscurely 3-lobed. Berry globular, black or blue; the cells 1–2-seeded.—Perennial herbs, with simple erect or curving stems, from creeping thick and knotted rootstocks, naked below, above bearing nearly sessile or half-clasping nerved leaves, and axillary nodding greenish flowers; pedicels jointed near the flower. (The ancient name, composed of πολύς, many, and γόνυ, knee, alluding to the numerous joints of the rootstock and stem.)—Ours are alternate-leaved species, the stem terete or scarcely angled when fresh.
1. P. biflòrum, Ell. (Smaller Solomon's Seal.) Glabrous, except the ovate-oblong or lance-oblong nearly sessile leaves, which are commonly minutely pubescent as well as pale or glaucous underneath; stem slender (1–3° high); peduncles 1–3- but mostly 2-flowered; perianth 4–6´´ long; filaments papillose-roughened, inserted toward the summit of the perianth.—Wooded hillsides, N. Brunswick to Fla., west to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex.
2. P. gigantèum, Dietrich. (Great S.) Glabrous throughout; stem stout and mostly tall (2–7° high), terete; leaves ovate, partly clasping (3–8´ long), or the upper oblong and nearly sessile, many-nerved; peduncles several-(2–8-) flowered, jointed below the flower; flowers 5–9´´ long; filaments smooth and naked, or nearly so, inserted on the middle of the tube.—Meadows and river-banks, N. Eng. to Va., west to the Rocky Mts. June.
12. ASPÁRAGUS, Tourn. Asparagus.
Perianth 6-parted, spreading above; the 6 stamens on its base; anthers introrse. Style short; stigma 3-lobed. Berry spherical, 3-celled; the cells 2-seeded.—Perennials, with much-branched stems from thick and matted rootstocks, and small greenish-yellow axillary flowers on jointed pedicels. The narrow, commonly thread-like, so-called leaves are really branchlets, acting as leaves, clustered in the axils of little scales which are the true leaves. (The ancient Greek name.)