432 RANUNCULACEAE 
leaflets ovate or oblong, or the terminal one obovate, acute or sometimes obtusish at the 
apex, narrowed, truncate or the lower subcordate at the base, incised-toothed, cleft or 
divided, thickish, nearly glabrous: racemes compound, terminal, 1.5-6 dm. long, usually 
finely pubescent : pedicels bracted : flowers 12-14 mm. broad, foetid : petals 4-8, 2-cleft : 
stamens very numerous: pistils solitary, or 2, sessile: stigma broad: follicles oval, 6-8 
mm. long, minutely beaked : seeds in 2 rows, smooth, flattened. 
In woods, Maine and Ontario to Wisconsin, middle Georgia and Missouri. Summer. BLACK 
SNAKEROOT. BLACK COHOSH. STAR-LANCE. RATTLE-WOOD. 
3. Cimicifuga Americana Michx. Stems slender, 1-2 m. high, leafy. Leaf-blades 
ternate, the divisions pinnate with many of the secondary divisions again compound : leaflets 
ovate or oblong, the terminal one generally cuneate, acute, thin, glabrate, all incisely 
toothed, cleft or divided, 2.5-7.5 em. long : racemes terminal, slender, compound, densely 
and finely pubescent, 3-6 dm. long : flowers pedicelled, 8-12 mm. broad : pedicels minutely 
bracted : petals few, 2-lobed : stamens numerous: pistils 3-8, stipitate: stigma minute: 
follicles inflated, membranous, 10 mm. long, narrowed below, each tipped with a short ob- 
lique subulate beak : seeds in 1 row, flattened, chaffy. 
In woods, Pennsylvania, and along the mountains to Georgia. Summer. AMERICAN BUGBANE. 
8. ACTAEA L. 
Perennial herbs, with thick rootstocks and erect stems. Leaves basal and cauline: 
blades large, ternately compound. Flowers small, white, in terminal racemes. Sepals 
3-5, petal-like. Petals 4-10, small, spatulate or narrow, clawed. Stamens numerous. 
Carpel solitary, many-ovuled. Stigma broad, sessile. Fruit a large, somewhat poisonous, 
berry-like follicle. 
Pedicels slender, less than 1 mm. thick: fruits red. 1. A. rubra. 
Pedicels stout, over 1 mm. thick: fruits white. 2. A. alba. 
1. Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd. Foliage pubescent or glabrate. Stems erect, fleshy, 
3-6 dm. tall. Leaf-blades petioled or the upper sessile, ternate, the divisions pinnate with 
the lower terminal leaflets sometimes again compound ; leaflets ovate or the terminal one 
obovate, toothed or somewhat cleft, the teeth mainly rounded or mucronate, or acutish : 
raceme ovoid : petals spatulate, shorter than the stamens : pedicels mainly slender, 10-14 
mm. long, less than 1 mm. thick : fruits red, oval, 10-12 mm. long, many-seeded. 
In woods, Nova Scotia to the Rocky Mountains, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Most 
abundant northward. Spring. RED BANEBERRY. 
2. Actaea álba (L.) Mill. Closely resembles the preceding species in habit and as- 
pect. Leaflets generally more cut and the teeth and lobes acute or acuminate : raceme 
oblong: petals truncate at the apex: fruiting pedicels as thick as the peduncle, over 1 
mm. thick and often red : fruits short-oval, white, often purplish at the tip. 
In woods, Nova Scotia and Anticosti, west to British Columbia, south to the mountains of Georgia, 
and Missouri. WHiTE BANEBERRY. WHITE COHOSH. 
9. AQUILEGIA L. 
Perennial herbs, with erect often branching stems. Leaves basal and cauline: blades 
ternately decompound. Flowers commonly large, showy. Sepals 5, regular, petal-like, 
deciduous. Petals concave, produced backward between the sepals into hollow spurs. . 
Stamens numerous, the inner ones reduced to staminodia. Carpels 5, sessile, many-ovuled, 
forming heads of follicles in fruit. COLUMBINE. 
Sepals ovate or oblong-ovate, 10-14 mm. long: spurs 2-2.5 cm. long: follicles with spreading tips. , 
1. A. Canadensis. 
Sepals lanceolate-ovate to lanceolate, 16-21 mm. long: spurs 3-3.5 em. long: follicles ww erect tips. 
Sepals lanceolate-ovate : follicles fully 2 em. long. . A. coccinea. 
Sepals lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate : follicles about 1.5 em. long. 3. A. australis. 
1. Aquilegia Canadénsis L. Foliage glabrous or somewhat pubescent. Stems 3-6 
dm. high, branching. Lower and basal leaves with slender petioles; blades biternate, 
10-15 cm. broad, the ultimate leaflets cuneate, obtusely lobed and toothed, pale beneath : 
leaf-blades of the upper part of the stem lobed or divided: flowers nodding, less than 3 
em. long, mainly scarlet or rarely white: sepals ovate or oblong-ovate, 10-15 mm. long : 
spurs nearly straight, 2-2.5 em. long, thickened at the tip, gradually narrowed from near 
the base : stamens and styles long-exserted : head of fruit erect : follicles mainly 1.5-2 cm. 
high, widely spreading at the top, each tipped with a filiform beak of about the same length. 
In rocky woods, Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territory, Georgiaand Texas. Spring and summer. 
