RANUNCULACE.E. 307 



7. ACONITUM, Theophraslns (Monks' Hood. Aconite). In all re- 

 spects like Delphinium (its separation therefrom a mere conventionality), 

 save that the sepals are never wide-expanded, but rather connivent, and 

 that the uppermost one is arched into a hood or helmet-shaped organ, 

 instead of being prolonged into a spur. 



1. A. ColumbianuiTi, Nutt. T. & G. Fl. i. 34 (1838): A. nasulum, Hook. 

 FI. i. 26 (1829), not Fisch.: A. Fischeri, B. & W. i. 12, not Eeichenb. 

 Glabrous or sparingly pubescent, 2 — 5 ft. high; leafy up to the rather 

 long and very loose raceme: leaves 3 — 5-cleft; segments broadly cuneate, 

 laciniately toothed or cleft: hood narrowly oblong, with a salient acute 

 beak: follicles 3 (rarely 5), glabrous, erect. — Frequent at rather high 

 altitudes in the Sierra Nevada; also in the Coast Range from Lake Co. 

 northward, in moist shades, along cold brooklets, etc. June — Sept. 



8. P(EONIA, Dioscorides. Stout perennials with more or less dis- 

 tinctly tuberous and clustered, or at least fleshy and branching roots. 

 Leaves ternately compound. Flowers solitary at the ends of the mostly 

 simple stems. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5 or more, rounded, concave, 

 red. Stamens cc , inserted on a plane disk founded on the united bases of 

 the sepals. Pistils 2 — 5, becoming large leathery follicles. 



1. P. Brownii, Dougl. Hook. Fl. i. 27 (1829); Greene, Gard. & Forest, 

 iii. 356. Roots deep-seated, elongated and branching, fleshy but scarcely 

 tuberous: stem 1 ft. high and, with the herbage, very glaucous: leaves 

 of cordate-ovate outline, the numerous segments oblong, obtuse.- In the 

 higher Sierra, from the middle, or perhaps even from southerly sections 

 of the State northward to British Columbia. It is also credited to Marin 

 Co. by Dr. Behr, whose plant, however, is more likely to be of the next 

 species. June. 



2. P. Callforuica, Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. i. 41 (1838); Greene, 1. c. Roots - 

 rather more distinctly tuberous-thickened: stem and herbage when 

 mature scarcely glaucous: leaves of pedate outline (broader than long), 

 their segments lanceolate or oblong, acute. — On hillsides, among bushes, 

 in the southern parts of the State, both along the seaboard and far 

 inland; first discovered near Santa Barbara, by Nultall; readily distin- 

 guishable from the preceding, even in the herbarium. March. 



9. CALTHA, C. Gesner (Marsh Marigold). Perennial herbs of very 

 wet ground. Roots coarse-fibrous, fascicled. Leaves mainly or altogether 

 radical, undivided, cordate or subsagittate. Flowers showy, terminal, 

 solitary or several. Sepals 5-12, petaloid. Petals 0. Stamens oo. Pistils 

 5 — 12, becoming small follicles. 



1. C. leptosepala, DC. Syst. i. 310 (1818); Hook. Fl. i. 22. t. 10. 

 Leaves long-petioled, from oval to reniform, cordate at base, the sinus 



