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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

California False-hellebore
Veratrum californicum E.M. Durand

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: This plant is easily identified by its coarse stature, its large, coarsely veined leaves, and its white or greenish white flowers borne in a terminal erect panicle.
Habitat: Along streams, around lakes, in wet meadows.
Habit: Coarse perennial herb with short, thick rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, stout, unbranched except in the inflorescence, smooth or hairy in the inflorescence, up to 8 feet tall.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, broadly elliptic to ovate, up to 15 inches long, up to 8 inches wide, hairy, with conspicuous veins, pointed or rounded at the tip, rounded and sometimes clasping the stem at the base.
Flowers: Many crowded into an erect, terminal panicle, the panicle up to 2 feet long; flower stalks up to 1/4 inch long.
Sepals and Petals: 6, similar, white or greenish white, lanceolate to elliptic, up to 3/4 inch long, united below.
Stamens: 6.
Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3.
Fruits: Capsules ovoid, up to 1 1/2 inches long, smooth, containing many pale, flat seeds up to 3/4 inch long.
Notes: Some of the flowers may only have stamens, while others may have both stamens and pistils. The stems and leaves are sometimes browsed by larger mammals.

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URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/4/veracali.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:25:42 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]