About Veratrum fimbriatum A.Gray
Veratrum fimbriatum is an uncommon species of false hellebore, a plant group that is closely related to lilies. Its common names are fringed false hellebore and fringed corn lily. It is endemic to California, where it is a rare resident of the northern coastal scrub plant communities of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. This flowering plant is a stout, hollow-stemmed perennial that grows from a thick rhizome. The erect flowering stem bears several large, flat green leaves near its base. A large panicle inflorescence is densely packed with many distinctive, lacy-fringed flowers, each up to one centimeter wide. Before opening, the flower bud is club-shaped. Once open, the bloom has six frilly tepals, each of which carries two bright green or gold glands. The ovary and sepals extend straight outward as a single thick stalk. The fruit is an oval-shaped capsule just under one centimeter long that holds the plant's seeds.
