Species: Veratrum californicum
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
California False-hellebore is a robust, herbaceous perennial with solitary, unbranched stems that are 1-2 m high and arising from thick rhizomes. The numerous, alternate, broadly elliptic, sessile leaves are 2-3 dm long, and they have entire margins and parallel veins and sheath the stem at the base. Foliage is glabrous below, with the stem becoming densely short-hairy above. The nearly sessile flowers are crowded in a narrow, erectly branched inflorescence that is 3-6 dm long. Each flower has 6 white, petal-like, narrowly elliptic tepals that are 10-15 mm long with green markings at the base. There are 6 stamens that are less than 1/2 as long as the tepals and a glabrous ovary that matures into an egg-shaped capsule that is 2-3 cm long.
Classification
Monocotyledoneae
Liliales
Liliaceae
Veratrum
NatureServe
Classification
Ecology and Life History
California False-hellebore is a robust, herbaceous perennial with solitary, unbranched stems that are 1-2 m high and arising from thick rhizomes. The numerous, alternate, broadly elliptic, sessile leaves are 2-3 dm long, and they have entire margins and parallel veins and sheath the stem at the base. Foliage is glabrous below, with the stem becoming densely short-hairy above. The nearly sessile flowers are crowded in a narrow, erectly branched inflorescence that is 3-6 dm long. Each flower has 6 white, petal-like, narrowly elliptic tepals that are 10-15 mm long with green markings at the base. There are 6 stamens that are less than 1/2 as long as the tepals and a glabrous ovary that matures into an egg-shaped capsule that is 2-3 cm long.