9 



RANUNCULACKAE. 



Vol. II. 



I. Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd. Red lianeberry. Black Cohosh. Fig. 1862. 



Actaea spicata var. rubra .\\\. Ilorl. Kew. 2: _'ji. 



1789. 

 Actaea rubra Willd. Lnum. 561. 1809. 

 A, rubra dissecta Britton ; Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. 



2: 55. 1897. 



Erect, bushy, l-2 higli, pubescent or 

 glabrate. Leaves petioled, or the upper ses- 

 sile, ternate, the divisions pinnate with the 

 lower ultimate leaflets sometimes again com- 

 pound ; leaflets ovate or the terminal one 

 obovate, toothed or somewhat cleft, or all 

 deeply incised, the teeth mainly rounded or 

 mucronate, or acutish ; raceme ovoid ; petals 

 spatulate, shorter than the stamens ; pedicels 

 mainly slender, 5"-7" long; berries red, oval 

 or ellipsoid, 5"-6" long. 



In woods. Nova Scotia to New Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania, west to South Dakota and Ne- 

 braska. April-June. A. spicata L., of Europe, 

 has purplish-black berries. Coral- and -pearl. 

 Red-lierry. Snake-root. Poison-berry. Snake- 

 berry. Toad-root. This and the following spe- 

 cies are called also herb-christopher, grapewort 

 and rattlesnake-herb. 



Actaea arguta Nutt., of western North America, with smaller globose red berries, enters our 

 western limits in western Nebraska and South Dakota. 



2. Actaea alba (L.) Alill. White Bane- 

 berry. Fig. 1863. 



Actaea spicata var. alba L. Sp. PI. 504. 1753. 

 Actaea alba Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. 



Closely resembles the preceding species in 

 habit and aspect. Leaflets generally more cut 

 and the teeth and lobes acute or acuminate; ra- 

 ceme oblong; petals truncate at the apex; fruit- 

 ing pedicels as thick as the peduncle and often 

 red; berries short-oval, white, often purplish at 

 the end. 



In woods, Nova Scotia and Anticosti to Georgia, 

 west to Minnesota and Missouri. Ascends to 5000 ft. 

 in Virginia. April-June. Races or hybrids with 

 white berries and slender pedicels (A. neglecta Gill- 

 man, A^ eburnea Rydb.), and red berries on thick- 

 ened pedicels are occasionally met with. White or 

 blue cohosh. White-beads. Necklace-weed, White- 

 berry. Snake-root. 



10. CIMICIFUGA L. Syst. Ed. 12, 659. 1767. 



Tall erect perennial herbs, with large decompound leaves, and white racemose flovstrs. 

 Sepals 2-5, petaloid, deciduous. Petals 1-8, small, clawed, 2-lobed or none. Stamens numer- 

 ous, the filaments filiform. Carpels 1-8, many-ovuled, sessile or stipitate, forming follicles 

 at maturity. Stigma broad or minute. [Latin, to drive away bugs.] 



A genus of about lo species, natives of North America, Asia and eastern Europe. Besides the 

 following, there are 3 on the western side of the continent. Type species : Cimicifitga foetida L. 



