Indian poke (Veratrum viride)
Description
“Pet poisonous” – Toxic parts: roots, leaves, seeds Veratrum viride, known as Indian poke, Indian hellebore, false hellebore, green false hellebore or giant false-helleborine, is a species of Veratrum native to eastern and western (but not central) North America.It is extremely toxic, and is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of other common names within its native range, including American false hellebore, American white hellebore, bear corn, big hellebore, corn lily, devils bite, duck retten, itch-weed, itchweed, poor Annie, blue hellebore and tickleweed. V. viride is a herbaceous perennial plant reaching 0.7 to 2 metres (2.3 to 6.6 ft) tall, with a solid green stem. The leaves are spirally arranged, 10 to 35 cm (4 to 14 in) long and 5 to 20 cm (2 to 8 in) broad, elliptic to broad lanceolate ending in a short point, heavily ribbed and hairy on the underside. The flowers are numerous, produced in a large branched inflorescence 30 to 70 cm (1.0 to 2.3 ft) tall; each flower is 5 to 12 mm (0.2 to 0.5 in) long, with six green to yellow-green tepals. The fruit is a capsule 1.5 to 3 cm (0.6 to 1.2 in) long, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the numerous flat 8 to 10 mm (0.3 to 0.4 in) diameter seeds. The plant reproduces through rhizome growth as well as seeds.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Liliales
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Family: Melanthiaceae
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Genus: Veratrum
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