Spir^a. rosace jE. 417 



tate. Serins:e.—Pull. Jl. Ross. \. p. 41, t. 94 ^ 48 ; WiLld. L c. ; DC. I. c. ; 

 Sj'rcmr. sijst. p. 50;J. 



Aleutian Islands, ex Sprengd. 



§ 4. Flowers dicecious : disk entire, coherent : filaments very long : carpels 

 distinct : ovules 8-12, pendulous : seeds with a loose membranous testa, at- 

 tenuate at each end: branching herbs, ivith tripinnately divided exstipulale 

 leaves: spikes filiform, very numerous, in a large compound panicle: pedi- 

 cels rcfiexed in fruit. — Aruncus, Seringe. 



-^ 11. jS. Aruncus (Linn.) : leaves tripinnate, membranaceous ; leaflets 

 lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, the terminal ones ovate-lanceolate, sharply and 

 ineiselv doubly serrate ; flowers very numerous ; carpels 3-5, very glabrous. 

 —Linn. ! spec. \.p. 496; Pall.fi. Ross. 1. ^ 6 ; Michx.! fl. \. p. '294 ; Ell. 

 sk. \. p. 561 ; Seringe ! I. c. ; Hook.! I. c. S. acuminata, Dougl. ! mss. ; 

 Nutt. ! mss. 



Pennsylvania ! and on the Cattskill Mountains, New York ! to (ieorgia ! 

 Kentucky ! and Missouri ! mostly in the mountains. Also in the Rocky 

 Mountains ! and Oregon ! to Sitclia ! on the N. W. Coast. June-July. — 

 A tall brandling herb ; the panicle of slender splcate racemes large and 

 compound. Flowers very small, white. — Both Nuttall and Douglas con- 

 sider llie western ])lant a distinct species; but our opinion coincides with 

 that ofBongard and Hooker, who are unable to distinguish them. The va- 

 riety with jierfect flowers, first mentioned by Michaux, is probably Astilbe 

 decandra (Tiarella biternata, Vent.), wliich in habit strikingly resembles this 

 plant. — GoaVs-beard. 



§ 5. Floicers perfect: disk icholly coherent with the tube of the calyx : fila- 

 ments united at the base, shorter than the obovate petals : ovaries 5 (4-6), 

 distinct, woolly along the inside : styles filiform, deciduous : stigma obtuse : 

 ovules about 6, pendulous from near the summit of the ovary : seeds 4, at- 

 tenuate at each end : stem nearly herbaceous, low : leaves exstipulate, pal- 

 mately cleft : raceme or panicle short, crowded. — Lutkea, Bongard. 

 (Eriogynia, Hook.) 



12. .S. pectinata: stems csespitose, creeping; branches short, erect, leeify ; 

 leaves rigid, much attenuated and linear at the base, twice or thrice 3-cleft ; 

 the lobes linear, acute ; lower bracts similar to the lea^ es ; raceme woolly 

 (often compound), somewhat capitate, elongated in fruit — Saxifraga pectinata, 

 Pursh! fl.. 1. p. 312. Lutkea sibbaldioides. Bong..! veg. Silcha, in mem. 

 acad. St. Petersb. {ser. 6.) 2. p. 130, t. 2. Eriogynia pectinata. Hook. ! fl. 

 Bor.-Am. 1. p. 255, t. 88. 



Behrin2;'s Straits, Menzies ! Sitcha, Bongard! Norfolk Sound, Esch- 

 schollz! 'Mount Ranier, Mr. Tolniic! "Height of Land" on the Rocky 

 Mountains near the sources of the Oregon, Drummond! — This interesting 

 plant cannot well be distinguished from Spinea, unless that genus should be 

 broken up into several, as has been proposed. Endlicher, we observe, has 

 left it in Saxifragaceffi. 



§ 6. Flowers jterfcct : disk free above, nearly entire : filaments distinct, rather 

 longer than the spatulate-oblong {minutely lutiry) petals : ovaries 3-5, dis- 

 tinct: styles filiform, very hairy below: stigma simple : ovules 2-3, sus- 



53 



