» N. ORD.-BERBERIDACEA®. 16 
GENUS.—CAULOPHYLLUM,* MICHX. 
SEX. SYST.—-HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
CAULOPHYLLUM. 
BLUE COHOSH. 
SYN.—CAULOPHYLLUM THALICTROIDES, MICHX.; LEONTICE THALICT- 
ROIDES, LINN.; LEONTOPETALON THALICTROIDES, HILL. 
COM. NAMES.—BLUE COHOSH, PAPPOOSE-ROOT, SQUAW-ROOT,} BLUE 
BERRY,! BLUE GINSENG, YELLOW GINSENG; (FR.) COHOCHE BLEU ; 
(GER.) BLAU COHOSCH. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOT OF CAULOPHYLLUM THALICTROIDES, 
MICHX. 
Description.—This erect, perennial herb, attains a growth of from 1 to 2% 
feet. Root horizontal or contorted, wrinkled and branched, showing many up- _ 
right nodules, bearing at their summits the scars of previous stems, and giving a 
off numerous cylindrical, branching rootlets from the older portions, Stem sim- 
ple, glaucous when young, smooth when old, arising from several imbricate, 
membraneous scales. eaves large, triternately decompound, the upper much 
smaller and biternate (pl. 16, fig. 1) ; eaflets 2 to 3 lobed, obtusely wedge-shape at 
the base; petioles blending with the stem in such a manner as to render their 
junction almost obscure. u/florescence a loose raceme or panicle ; peduncle aris- 
ing from the base of the upper leaf; flowers purplish or yellowish-green. Sepals 
6, oval-oblong, with 3 small bractlets at the base. Peéa/s 6, gland-like, with a 
short claw and a somewhat reniform or hooded body, the whole much smaller 
than the sepals, at the base of which they are inserted. Stamens 6, overlaying, 
and about the same length as the petals; anthers oblong, 2-celled, the cells open- 
ing by uplifting valves. ists gibbous; ovary resembling the anthers in form, 
2-celled; style short, apical; sé#gma minute, unilateral. Fruit a 2-seeded pod ; 
epicarp thin, papyraceous, bursting and withering before fertilization is complete, 
leaving the naked seeds to farther develop upon their erect, thick funiculi ; pee 
carp fleshy, deep blue; a/bumen corneous; embryo minute, apical. Read descrip- 
tion of the natural order, under Berberis, 15. 
History and Habitat.—The Blue Cohosh is indigenous to the United States, 
growing abundantly in moist, rich woods, from Canada southward to Kentucky 
a leaf, the stem resembling the petiole of a large leaf. 
* Kav\6s, Laulos, a stem; and $6\Xov, phyllon, : 
+ The true squaw-root is Conopholis Americana, Wall. (Orobanc acex). 
¢ This vulgarism properly belongs to several species of Vaccinium (Ericacez). 
