Coptis trifolia. 99 
Tuts pretty little evergreen plant, was referred by all botanists 
to the genus helleborus, until Mr. Salisbury separated it, on the 
characters which are given above. He associated it with another 
plant, having twice ternate leaves and green flowers, found by 
Mr. Menzies on the north-west coast of America. To the genus he 
gave the name of coptis, from +77, to cut; and botanists now uni- 
versally adopt his name and generic characters. The species which 
is the subject of this chapter, is a native of Siberia, Iceland, Labrador, 
and the northern parts of the United States. 
The roots are perennial, about the size of bobbin, creeping, fasci- 
cled, and of a bright-yellow colour, which gives them the name of 
gold-thread. The stems are slender, round, and proceed from 
sheathing, ovate, sharp-pointed squamous sheaths. The leaves 
are ternate, coriaceous, smooth, and of a deep, shining evergreen, 
conspicuously and delicately veined. They are supported by long 
and short, round, slender petioles. The folioles are cuneate-obo- 
vate, with acuminate crenatures on the margin. The scapes are 
one-flowered, slender, terete, and garnished, with a mucronate scale- 
like bract at some distance below the flower. The corolla consists 
of from five to seven oblong, greenish-white, concave petals. There 
are five or six clavate fistulous nectaries, which are tinged with 
yellow at the top. The stamens are numerous, consisting of delicate 
white filaments and globose anthers. Germs oblong, flattened. The 
capsules are oblong, rostrate, and pedicellate, containing many seeds 
