Rank Species | Genus Veratrum Higher classification Veratrum | |
Similar Veratrum, Liliaceae, Liliales, Melanthium, Veratrum viride | ||
Veratrum insolitum is a species of false hellebore, a type of plant closely related to the lily. Its common name is Siskiyou false hellebore. It is native to the northwestern United States: Washington (Klickitat County), western Oregon, and northwestern California as far south as Trinity County.
Veratrum insolitum is a stout, hollow-stemmed perennial growing from a thick rhizome in the clay soil of wet evergreen forests. The erect cornstalk-shaped plant bears several large green elliptical leaves decreasing in size higher up on the grayish stem. The large panicle inflorescence is packed with many off-white hairy flowers each just under a centimeter wide. There are six fringed tepals and six stout stamens, each with a club-shaped yellow anther. The fruit is a capsule 2 to 3 centimeters long which contains large winged seeds.