430 RANUNCULACEAE 



Achenes longitudinally ribbed. ' 22. Haleepestes. 



Achencs smooth, papillose or spiny. 23. Ranuxculu.s. 



b. Blades of the petals without a nectariferous pit at the base. 24. Adonis. 



B. Leaf-blades ternately decompound. ' 2-0. Thalictrum. 



1. HYDRASTIS Ellis. 

 Perennial herbs, with pube.scent foliage and erect stems. Leaves few : blades pal- 

 mately lobed, reniforin. 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 Canadensis L. Rootstock thick, yellow. Stem erect, mostly 2-4 dm. 

 high. Basal leaf with a long-petioled reniform blade 12-20 cm. broad, palmately o-9-lobed, 

 the lobes broad, acute, sharply and unequally serrate ; cauline leaf borne at the stimniit of 

 the stem : bract leaf-like, subtending the greenish white tlower 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. 



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. Sejials 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 paliistris 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 otitward, many-seeded. 



Tn swamps and meadows, Newfoundland and British America to the Kocky Mountains, South 

 Carolina and Iowa. Spring. Marsh-marigold. Meadow-gowan. 



3. HELLEBORUS 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, w'hich are dehiscent at the apex at maturity. 



1. Helleborus viridis L. Foliage glabrous. Stem stout, erect, 3-6 dm. high : basal 

 leaves with blades 2-3 dm. broad, on jietioles 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, stibtending the large drooping yellowish green flowers : sepals broadly oblong, 

 obtuse, spreading, about 2.5 cm. 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 L'Her. 



Low shrubby plants, Avitli 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 apiifolia 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 jnnnate or sometimes bipinnate, 1-15 cm. long, slender-petioled ; leaflets 



