False Hellebore.Veratrum viride.Indian Poke.Poor Annie.
Found blossoming in June, in wet hollows, and along the borders of upland streams.
Its simple, erect stalk, growing from 2 to 4 feet high, is very leafy; it is round, and stout, an inch or more in diameter at the base; smooth, and green.
The very large leaf, from 10 to 12 inches long, is broadly oval, tapering at the tip, and deeply pleated on its many parallel ribs; the surface is finely downy, especially beneath; in color a bright grass green.
The flower is about three fourths of an inch across; the 6 spreading petal-like parts are leaf-like in texture, and of a yellowish-green color. The flowers, growing on very short foot-stems, with a narrow leaf (or bract) to each one, are thickly set in a pyramidal cluster, on the top of the leafy stalk.
The juice, particularly that of the root, is said to be a strong acrid poison. It is a plant of splendid vigor, and curves; in early spring, before the twiggery shows any green, it pushes up from the dark earth a large, lush, green bud, charged to the full with the impulse of growth; later its leafage becomes more or less mingled with that of its neighbors, and so does not receive the recognition it deserves for its striking qualities.