KOSACEAE. $11 



24. AGRIMONIA L. 



Perennial erect herbs. Leaves alternate, petioled, odd-pinnate, with smaller 

 leaf- segments interposed between the larger ones, and conspicuous stipules. 

 Flowers small, regular, perfect, yellow, in narrow racemes. Calyx-tube often 

 grooved, uncinate- bristly above, the 5 lobes connivent. Petals 5, small. Stamens 

 5-15, slender. Carpels 2, included ; style terminal ; stigma 2-lobed ; ovules 

 pendulous. Fruit dry, mostly reflexed ; achenes 1-2, oblong. Seed suspended, 

 its testa membranous. [Ancient Latin name.] About 15 species, natives of the 

 north temperate zone and the Andes of S. Am. Besides the following, another 

 occurs in the Southern States. 



Racemes and leaves beneath with loose spreading hairs or glabrous. 



Roots not tuberous; fruit large, turbinate, with numerous radiating bristles. 



1. A. hirsuta. 

 Roots tuberous; fruit very small, hemispheric, with few ascending or erect bristles. 



2. A. striata. 

 Racemes and leaves beneath closely and softly pubescent. 



Roots tuberous; stems pubescent; leaves not glandular-dotted beneath. 

 Small, often simple, with elongated terminal raceme; leaflets 3-5. 



3. A. pumila. 

 Larger, paniculate-branched ; leaflets 5-11. 4. A.mollis. 



Roots not tuberous ; stems hirsute; leaves glandular-dotted beneath. 



Leaflets mostly 7-9; fruit large, the bristles connivent. 5. A. Brittoniana. 



Leaflets mostly 11-17; ^ ruit small, the bristles radiate. 6. A. parviflora. 



1. Agrimonia hirsuta (Muhl.) Bicknell. TALL HAIRY AGRIMONY. (I. F. f. 

 1957.) Tall, 3-18 dm. high, minutely glandular, villous. Leaflets thin, bright 

 green, mostly 7, spreading, elliptic to broadly oblong, or the odd one obovate, 

 acute, base Often subcordate, coarsely serrate, the margins and nerves beneath cili- 

 ate, the lower surface rarely pubescent; flowers 8-12 mm. broad, the buds ovoid, 

 acute; fruit reflexed, 6 mm. long, short- turbinate. Woods and thickets, N. B. to 

 Minn., N. Car., Kans. and Cal. June- Aug. 



2. Agrimonia striata Michx. WOODLAND AGRIMONY. (I. F. f. 1958.) 

 Mostly about 6 dm. high, minutely glandular; racemes filiform, loosely flowered. 

 Leaflets thin, commonly 5, mostly oblong or obovate-oblong and obtuse, crenate or 

 dentate, scarcely ciliate; flowers 4-5 mm. broad, the buds subglobose, truncate or 

 nearly so; fruit 4 mm. high or less, spreading or nodding, hemispheric, the furrows 

 shallow or obsolete. In dry woods, Conn, to Va., Kans. and Mo. July-Sept. 



3. Agrimonia pumila Muhl. SMALL-FRUITED AGRIMONY. (I. F. f. 1959.) 

 Small and slender, 3-6 dm. high, erect or assurgent, simple, or with a few branches 

 above. Stem villous with spreading hairs below, appressed -pubescent above; 

 leaves often crowded toward the base of the stem, frequently 3-foliolate; leaflets 

 small, elliptic to obovate or cuneate, obtuse or acute at the apex, often pale beneath; 

 flowers small; fruit 4 mm. long or less, minutely glandular, hemispheric to turbi- 

 nate; disk flat; bristles few, ascending or erect. In dry soil, Penn. and Md. to 

 Fla., Ky. and La. Aug. 



4. Agrimonia moliis (T. & G.) Britton. SOFT AGRIMONY. (I. F. f. 1960.) 

 Virgately branched, 4-18 dm. tall. Stem pubescent, or villous below, finely 

 pubescent above. Leaves thickish, dull green, veiny, pale and velvety-pubescent 

 beneath; leaflets narrowly oblong to obovate, obtuse or acutish at the apex, crenate 

 to dentate ; flowers 6-8 mm. broad, the buds subglobose, obtuse; fruit 4 mm. long 

 or more, oblong to broadly turbinate, the ascending slender bristles nearly in a 

 single row. Dry woods and thickets, Conn, to Mich., N. Car. and Kans. July-Oct. 



5. Agrimonia Brittoniana Bicknell. BRITTON'S AGRIMONY. (I. F. f. 1961.) 

 Robust, 6-12 dm. tall, virgately branched. Stem hirsute-pubescent with short 

 spreading brownish hairs, sub-appressed above ; leaflets elliptic to rhomboid-lance- 

 olate, deeply and closely serrate, dull green, thickish, rugose, their margins finely 

 scabrous-ciliolate ; racemes long, erect or ascending ; flowers crowded, 6-10 mm. 

 wide; fruit 6-8 mm. long, long-turbinate, deeply grooved; bristles often purplish, 

 short, crowded, inflexed and connivent over the sepals. Along thickets and road- 

 sides, Quebec to northern N. Y. and W. Va. Also in the Rocky Mts. June-Sept. 



* Text contributed by MR. EUGENE P. BlCKNELL. 



