COPTIS TRIFOLIA. 
THe Sreconpary Cuaracters. 
Coptis. Sepals five -six, oblong, concave, colored, decidu- 
ous. Petals five -six, small, cucullate, obconic. Stamens 
twenty —twenty-five. Follicles five —ten, stipitate, rostrate, 
diverging in a stellate manner, four — six-seeded. 
Scape one-flowered. Leaves ternate. Roots long, filiform, golden-yellow. 
Tue Speciric CHaracTers. 
Corris trironia. Leaves three-foliate. Scape one-flow- 
ered. Petals much smaller than the sepals. 
Petals five or six, caducous. Nectaries small, five or six, cowled. Capsules ob- 
long, five -ei stiped, stellate, beaked, many-seeded. Sometimes the nectaries 
are mistaken for corollas, and the corollas for calyxes. 
Tue Artiricia, CHaRacrers. 
Cuass Potyanpria. Stamens twenty or more, arising from 
the receptacle (hypogynous). Orper Pouyeynia. Leaves 
never peltate. Herbs with acrid colorless juice. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Gotprureap inhabits the northern regions of this conti- 
nent, and of Asia and Europe. It is found in Greenland and 
Iceland. The plant is an agreeable and pretty evergreen, and 
bears considerable resemblance to the strawberry in size and 
general aspect. It delights in the dark shady swamps and 
cold morasses of northern latitudes and Alpine regions, 
and abounds in Canada and in the hilly districts of New 
England. Its most southern limits are New England, New 
York, and the shores of Lake Erie. Its blossoms appear in 
May, and it continues in flower during the summer. It flour- 
ishes best in peat soil, and is increased by dividing the 
roots. . 
_ Copris rriroia has a perennial, extensively creeping root, 
the slenderness and bright-yellow color of which have given 
rise to the name Goldthread, by which the plant is universally 
and commonly known. The caudex, from which the petioles 
and flower-stems proceed, is invested with ovate, acuminate, 
_ yellowish, imb: ice ed scales: The leaves, which stand in 
. long, slender footstalks, are’ ternate, with firm, rounded, or 
> leaflets having an acute base, a lobed and 
