20 Hydrastis Canadensis. 
_main root. It shrinks considerably in drying, often losing two- 
thirds ofits bulk. The stem is upright, from eight to twelve inches 
high, round and finely pubescent or hairy, especially in the young 
state of the plant. It is terminated by two leaves of unequal size, 
beyond the smaller of which the peduncle projects, to the length of 
three quarters of an inch, and is terminated by a single three- 
petalled, white or very pale rose-coloured flower. 
The leaves are petiolated, emarginate at the base, palmate, un- 
equally serrated, three, four, or five lobed, the lobes having a smaller 
lobe on each side. The leaves are at first small during the flores- 
cence, but afterwards become much larger, as represented. in the 
outline (Fig. 2.) When the plant is quite advanced, they are often 
even larger than that figure, The fruit is said to be about the size 
of a raspberry, and of a bright red colour, It is a compound berry, 
consisting of a number of muricated acini, the points occasioned by 
the persistent styles. This plant is in flower in the beginning of 
May, but as the petals are fugacious, it is seldom seen in full 
florescence.. I have not myself seen it except just after the petals 
had fallen; im consequence of which I have been obliged to make 
the drawing of the petals, from a specimen in the Muhlenbergian 
Herbarium, Hydrastis isnot a very common plant, except westward 
of the Allegehany mountains, where it is said to grow in profusion, 
It is however sufficiently abundant in the woods near Lancaster, in 
Pennsylvania. In the neighbourhood of this city, itis very rare. 
