| ms 
/ 
i 
5. Coptis Salisb. Goldthread, 
‘erbs with slender rootstocks, Leaves basal, ternately divided or 
compound, Flowers borne on a short scape, solitary or umbellate, Sepals 
5-7, petal-like, linear, hooded above; stamens numerous; pistils 3-12, 
shortly stipitate, forming in fruit a whorl or umbel of leathery follicles, 
1. C. occidentalis (Nutte) Te & Ge Low glabrous perennial, the rootstocks 
5-8 cm, long, 2-5 mi. in diameter, golden yellow when peeled; leaves 2=3y5 
reniform in outline, the leaflets leathery, rather glossy, rotund-ovaie, 
comaonly S-lobed, toothed, cuneate or cuneate-rounded to obliquely cordate 
at the base, petioles about twice the length of the blades; flowers commonly 
35 umbellate/,early deciduous; follicles commonly 8, 12 mm, long, spreading 
and curving upwerd, veinys; seeds olivaceous, elliptical, blunt, 2 m, long, 
lightly rugose longitudinally, (Chrysocoptis occidertalis Nutt.). 
Comion throughout our region in rather dry woods, chiefly below 4000 
ft.; flowers in April, the pods being quickly formed. 
\ 
