Crisped bunch-flower, slender bunch-flower

Melanthium racemosum Michaux

Rhizomes 0.5–1.5 × 0.5–1 cm; bulbs 0.6–1.7 cm. Stems 1/4–1/2 floriferous, 0.5–1.6 m. Leaf blades narrowly oblanceolate, 25–55 × 1–7.2 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences 1.7–7 dm; terminal racemes 0.4–3.9 dm; secondary racemes spreading to ascending, 0.7–1.8(–2) dm; tertiary racemes common; bracts ovate to subulate, green to purplish brown, 2–6 mm, densely floccose proximally and marginally. Tepals greenish white to light yellow, aging green, orbiculate to rhombic, 3–8 × 2–4.8 mm, base abruptly attenuate, clawed, margins strongly undulate, basal 2/5 linear, involute, apex shortly acuminate; claws 0.3–6.9 mm; glands yellow, oblong to oblong-ovate, nectariferous; stamens 4–5.5 mm; filaments inserted at or below middle of claw, 0.4–1 mm from ovary base, not basally dilated, equaling tepal width at insertion point; anthers 0.7 mm; ovary ovoid, glabrous or pubescent; styles 1.7–3 mm; pedicel spreading to ascending, 7–17 mm. Capsules ellipsoid-oblong, 12–19 × 7–12 mm, glabrous or glabrate. Seeds 7.5–9 × 4–4.5 mm (including wings). 2n = 16.

Flowering summer. Mesic to dry, rocky, wooded slopes; 300--1700 m; Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Md., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Traditionally, Melanthium latifolium has been known by the misapplied name M. hybridum Walter (N. L. Bodkin 1979).