Resembling the lilies, sometimes with naked but usually leafy stems, and simple or branched, frequently creeping rootstocks, flowers usually small and variously disposed on the stem, either scattered in the axils of the leaves or in terminal clusters, or occasionally solitary on a naked stem; either 4- or 6-parted, regular, perfect; stamens 6.

More or less hairy throughout, with 1 to 3 or 4 dark green leaves, 4—8 inches long and 1—2 inches wide, oblong-lanceolate with an abrupt tip, and tapering at the base to sheathing petioles, from a creeping underground stem 2—3 inches long. Flower-stem shorter than the leaves with one or rarely two blossoms which are pure white, very open, 6-parted; sepals and petals ¾—1 inch long, oblanceolate, obtuse; stamens 6, shorter than the petals, anthers yellow.

In rich, moist woods throughout the region.

Glaucous throughout, 8—20 inches high, smooth or with a few short hairs, leafy from a stout fleshy root; leaves alternate, 2—5 inches long, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, with a clasping base, smooth and bright green above, glaucous and minutely hairy beneath. Flowers white, several forming a rather open terminal head. 1—2 inches long; petals and sepals narrow, ¼ to ⅜ of an inch long; stamens 6, about half their length, anthers nearly white.

Common throughout the region in moist words and thickets; flowering through June and July.

Tall, stout, and leafy, 18—30 inches high, from a fleshy rootstock; stem striate and slightly hairy especially near the top; leaves alternate, sessile or short-petioled, ovate or oblong, 3—7 inches long, 1½—3 inches broad, short, acuminate, often with a twisted tip. Flowers small, yellowish-white in a close terminal head 1½—3½ inches long; petals and sepals minute, about ¹/₁₆ of an inch long; stamens 6, the filaments petaloid and about ⅛ of an inch long, anthers yellowish white.

Common throughout the region in the moist rich woods; flowering during June.

Plant 1—3 feet high, from a short, stout rootstock, covered with numerous fibrous roots; stem glaucous, usually branching below the middle, smooth above and covered with stiff hairs below. Leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate, 2—5 inches long, 1—2 inches wide, acuminate, smooth, bright green above, glaucous beneath, heart-shaped and clasping at the base. Flowers numerous, 1 or 2 on a stem at the back of each of the upper leaves, stem bent or twisted about the middle; sepals and petals greenish-white or yellowish, narrowly lanceolate about ½ an inch long, spreading and turned back at the tips; berry ½—¾ of an inch in diameter, globose, yellow or bright scarlet.

A rather striking plant throughout the region in the moist rich woods among rocks; flowering in June.

Plant 6—24 inches high, smooth except the flower-stalks and margins of the leaves, simple or slightly branched from a slender creeping rhizome, with a few fibrous rootlets at the nodes. Leaves yellowish-green, sessile, oval or oblong-lanceolate, 1—3 inches long, acuminate at the tip and rounded or more or less clasping at the base, the margins more or less scatteringly glandular-hairy. Flowers few at the backs of the upper leaves, solitary on glandular-hairy, curved stalks ¼—¾ of an inch long; sepals and petals pale purple or rose colour, darker spotted on the inner surface, slender, slightly more than ¼ of an inch long; anthers beaked, the beaks slender; berry globose, about ⅜ of an inch in diameter, bright red.

In the damp woods in the Selkirks, frequent, growing in colonies and spreading largely by the creeping rhizomes.

Smooth and simple, 3—6 inches high, from an extensively creeping rhizome, with a few fibrous roots at each node. Leaves 4—8, bright green and shining on both surfaces, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 1—2 inches long, the upper merely sessile, the lower clasping at the base. Flowers few, about ¼ of an inch in width, stellate and solitary on very slender, curved stalks about ⅜ of an inch long in the axils, at the backs of the upper leaves; sepals and petals deep wine-colour at the base, with yellowish-green reflexed tips; stamens 6, anthers ovoid, 2-lobed, yellow and prominent, slightly below the centre of the sepals and petals; ovary broadly urn-shaped; style none; berry nearly globose at maturity and bright red.

Known only in the Selkirks where it occurs in colonies of considerable size in the rich woods at Glacier; flowering in the middle of June.

Stem 1—3 feet high, much branched and finely hairy above. Leaves yellowish-green when young, becoming darker with age, ovate or oblong, acuminate, distinctly heart-shaped at the base, 2—4 inches long, hairy, especially beneath. Flowers appearing as the leaves unfold greenish-yellow or nearly white, drooping 1 or 2 together at the ends of the branches; sepals and petals spreading half an inch or more in length, lanceolate and narrowed at the base into a broad claw; stamens exserted, anthers yellow; style simple, larger than the stamens; berry ovate, half an inch in diameter, smooth or nearly so when ripe, bright red and few-seeded.

In moist rich woods throughout the region, most abundant on the western slope of the Rockies and in the Selkirks; flowering in June.

Plant 1—2 feet high with few branches, hairy when young. Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or short, acuminate, rounded at the base. Flowers greenish-yellow or nearly white, 1—3 together at the ends of the branches; sepals and petals not spreading, half an inch or less in length, narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, stamens about equalling the sepals and petals; style slightly longer than the stamens, 3-cleft; berry a little less than half an inch in diameter, depressed, globose, and roughened with short papillæ.

In rich woods, most abundant on the eastern slopes of the Rockies; flowering early in June.