Slender Bunchflower

Description

“Pet poisonous” – Toxic parts: roots, leaves, seeds Veratrum hybridum is a species of flowering plant in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names slender bunchflower and crisped bunchflower. Many publications use the synonyms Melanthium latifolium and Veratrum latifolium, but the "hybridum" epithet is 9 years older than the "latifolium," so Veratrum hybridum is now the accepted name. It is native to the eastern United States, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains. This perennial herb grows from a bulb with a network of rhizomes. The stem grows up to 1.6 meters tall. The lance-shaped leaves reach up to 55 centimeters long by 7.2 centimeters wide. The inflorescence is a raceme branching into secondary, and sometimes tertiary, racemes. Each flower has woolly green or purplish bracts and six white or yellowish tepals. The fruit is a capsule up to 2 centimeters long containing winged seeds. Though the plant produces flowers and seeds, flowering occurs irregularly and most reproduction may be vegetative, when the plant sprouts from its rhizome.