430 RANUNCULACEAE 
Achenes longitudinally ribbed. 2. HALERPESTES. 
Achenes smooth, papillose or spiny. . RANUNCULUS. 
b. Blades of the petals without a nectariferous pit at the base. — 24. ADONIS. 
B. Leaf-blades ternately decompound. 25. THALICTRUM. 
1. HYDRASTIS Ellis. 
Perennial herbs, with pubescent foliage and erect stems. Leaves few: blades pal- 
mately lobed, reniform. Flower terminal, solitary, greenish white. Sepals 3, petal-like, 
falling away at anthesis. Petals wanting. Stamens numerous: filaments white. Car- 
pels numerous, each bearing two ovules near the middle, and in fruit forming a head of 
1-2-seeded crimson berries, somewhat resembling a raspberry. 
1. Hydrastis Canadénsis L. Rootstock thick, yellow. Stem erect, mostly 2-4 dm. 
high. Basal leaf with a long-petioled reniform blade 12-20 em. broad, palmately 5-9-lobed, 
the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally serrate ; cauline leaf borne at the summit of 
the stem : bract leaf-like, subtending the greenish white flower which is 8-10 mm. broad 
when expanded : filaments widened, about 4 mm. long: anthers oblong, obtuse: head of 
fruit ovoid, blunt, about 16 mm. long, each fleshy carpel tipped with a short curved beak. 
In woods and thickets, Connecticut to Vermont, Minnesota, Georgia and Missouri. Spring. 
ORANGE-ROOT. GOLDEN SEAL. 
t2t2 
2b 
2. CALTHA L. 
Perennial herbs, with succulent tissues. Leaves few, mostly basal: blades simple, 
entire or crenate, cordate or auriculate. Flowers yellow, white or pink. Sepals large, 
petal-like, deciduous. Petals wanting. Stamens numerous, obovoid. . Carpels numerous 
or few, sessile, bearing ovules in two rows along the ventral suture, in fruit forming 
follicles. 
1. Caltha palüstris L. Foliage glabrous. Stem stout, hollow, often tufted, erect 
or ascending, 2-6 dm. high, branching and bearing several flowers : basal leaves with long 
and stout petioles ; blades cordate or reniform, 5-18 mm. wide, with a narrow sinus, en- 
tire, crenate or dentate, the upper ones shorter-petioled or sessile, nearly truncate at the 
base: flowers bright yellow, 2.5-4 cm. broad : sepals oval, obtuse: follicles 3-12 or even 
more, compressed, 10-12 mm. long, slightly curved outward, many-seeded. 
In swamps and meadows, Newfoundland and British America to the Rocky Mountains, South 
Carolina and Iowa. Spring. MARSH-MARIGOLD. MEADOW-GOWAN. 
3. HELLÉBORUS L. 
Perennial herbs, with erect stems. Leaves large : blades palmately divided, the basal 
long-petioled, the upper sessile and sometimes much reduced. Flowers large, white, 
greenish or yellowish. Sepals 5, broad, petal-like, mainly persistent. Petals small, un- 
guiculate, tubular. Stamens numerous. Carpels generally few, sessile, in fruit forming 
several-seeded capsules, which are dehiscent at the apex at maturity. 
l. Helleborus viridis L. Foliage glabrous. Stem stout, erect, 3-6 dm. high: basal 
leaves with blades 2-3 dm. broad, on petioles 1.5-2.5 dm. long, palmately divided into 
7-11 oblong acute sharply serrate segments 7-10 cm. long: bracts sessile, similar to the 
leaves, subtending the large drooping yellowish green flowers: sepals broadly oblong, 
obtuse, spreading, about 2.5 em. long: petals tubular, 2-lipped, 4 mm. long: stamens 
widened : anthers oblong, obtuse: pods 15 mm. long, each tipped with a slender beak one- 
third their length or longer. 
. , In waste places, locally adventive from Europe in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina. Spring. GREEN HELLEBORE. 
4. XANTHORRHIZA lU Her. 
Low shrubby plants, "with yellow roots and rootstocks and brittle stems. Leaves approxi- 
mate: blades pinnate or bipinnate. Flowers in compound racemes. Sepals 5, petal-like, 
deciduous. Petals 5, smaller than the sepals, clawed, concave, 2-lobed. Stamens 5 or 10, 
sessile, 2-ovuled, forming 1-seeded follicles at maturity by the suppression of one of the 
ovules. 
1. Xanthorrhiza apiifdlia L’Her. A weak shrub 2-6 dm. tall, with glabrate foliage 
and yellow and bitter bark, and long roots. Leaves clustered at the summit of the short 
stem ; blades pinnate or sometimes bipinnate, 1-15 cm. long, slender-petioled ; leaflets 
