Flora of North America species comparison

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Veratrum viride

Veratrum album

American false hellebore, corn lily, green false-hellebore, Indian hellebore, Indian-poke, showy false hellebore, vérâtre verti

white false hellebore
Stems

0.5–2 m, nearly glabrous to densely tomentose.

Leaves

ovate to elliptic, reduced distally, to lanceolate, 15–35 × 8–20 cm, glabrous to densely hairy, especially on abaxial surface.

Inflorescences

paniculate, with ascending to spreading or distinctly drooping (particularly in w North America) branches, 30–70 cm, tomentose;

bracts lanceolate, shorter than flowers.

Capsules

oblong-ovoid, 2–3 cm, glabrous.

Seeds

flat, broadly winged, 8–10 mm.

Tepals

deep green to yellowish, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, narrowed to short, broad claw, 5–12 mm, tomentose adaxially, margins of both whorls or at least inner obviously erose-serrulate;

gland 1, basal, dark green or yellowish green, V-shaped;

ovary glabrous;

pedicel 2–10 mm.

Veratrum viride

Veratrum album
Distribution
from USDA
North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
nw Alaska; Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Veratrum viride consists of two clearly related, disjunct populations, one in eastern and one in western North America. These were clearly separated by continental glaciation and have subsequently evolved in isolation. Nonetheless they show many critical features in common, and individual plants from either region occasionally show one or more features common to plants in the other. The two populations have been variously classified as separate species, varieties, or subspecies, or as a single taxon. We have chosen to recognize two distinctive, if subtle, varieties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

This is the only Veratrum species to occur in Europe, Asia, and North America, and it is probably more widespread in northwestern Alaska than reported. Veratrum album is highly variable in size, flower color, pedicel length, and hairiness, and it has an extensive synonymy in Eurasia. Within the species at large, a polyploid series that includes 4x, 9x, 10x, and 12x accompanies the complex variability among constituent populations (M. N. Tamura 1998).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Inflorescence branches ascending to spreading, only rarely drooping; flowers spreading to rarely erect; east of 85th meridian.
var. viride
1. Inflorescence branches spreading to commonly drooping; flowers erect; west of 110th meridian.
var. eschscholzianum
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 74. FNA vol. 26, p. 76.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Veratrum Liliaceae > Veratrum
Sibling taxa
V. album, V. californicum, V. fimbriatum, V. insolitum
V. californicum, V. fimbriatum, V. insolitum, V. viride
Subordinate taxa
V. viride var. eschscholzianum, V. viride var. viride
V. album var. oxysepalum
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 3: 422. (1789) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1044. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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