''Anticlea elegans'', formerly ''Zigadenus elegans'', is also known as mountain deathcamas, elegant camas or

alkali grass ''Puccinellia'' is a genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, known as alkali grass or salt grass. These grasses grow in wet environments, often in Saline water, saline or alkaline conditions. They are native to temperate to Arctic regions ...

. It is not a

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

(though its leaves are grass-like), but belongs to the

trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Melanthiaceae Melanthiaceae, also called the bunchflower family, is a family of flowering herbaceous perennial plants native to the Northern Hemisphere. Along with many other lilioid monocots, early authors considered members of this family to belong to the ...

. It has white lily-like flowers and two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal (the shape of which can help in distinguishing it from other members of the genus). It is widely distributed through western North America, but absent from California. In Canada its range extends from Quebec and New Brunswick to the Yukon Territory and into Alaska. Plants on the western side of the continent tend to be smaller in size than their eastern counterparts, but have more densely clustered flowers. The plant is extremely poisonous.

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

, while on the course of his expedition in 1806, collected a specimen near the Blackfoot River.Schiemann, Donald Anthony. Wildflowers of Montana, page 142. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula. 2005.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2853166 Melanthiaceae Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Western Canada Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of Alaska Flora of New Brunswick Flora of Ontario Flora of Quebec Flora of Arizona Flora of Iowa Flora of Minnesota Flora of Nebraska Flora of Nevada Flora of North Dakota Flora of South Dakota Flora of Utah Flora of the Western United States Flora of the Rocky Mountains Plants described in 1903 Taxa named by Frederick Traugott Pursh Flora without expected TNC conservation status