RANUNCULACE^. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 11 



14. ZANTHORHIZA, Marshall. 



Sepals 5, i-egular, lanceolate-ovato, colored, imbricated in the bud, deciduous. 

 Petals 5, small, <,'land-like, 2-lobed, short-stalked. Stamens 5-10: filaments 

 short. Ovaries 5- 10, 1-celled, 2-ovulcd. Style subulate, incurved, at length 

 dorsal. Follicles sessile, gibbous. Seed solitary, pendulous. — A smooth trailing 

 shrub with yellow roots. Leaves pinnate, long-pctioled. Leaflets 3-5, ovate and 

 lanceolate-ovate, incisely lobed and toothed from near the acute base. Flowers 

 small, in slender compound racemes, appearing before (below) the leaves, dark 

 purple. 



1. Z. apiifolia, L'Her. — Shady banks, Florida, and along the mountains 

 of Georgia and northward. March and April. — Stems 2° -3° high. 



15. HYDRASTIS, L. 



Se])als 3, ovate, membranaceous, colored, imbricated in the bud, caducous. 

 Petals none. Stamens numerous: filaments filiform. Ovaries 12-20, fleshy, 

 1-celled, 2-ovuled, ripening into l-2seetled, capitate, bnght crimson berries. 

 Style short. Stigma 2-lipped. — Stem erect from a thick, knotted rhizoma, 

 simple, 1-flowered, leafy alx)ve. Leaves broadly cordate, palmately 5-7 cleft, 

 the lobes toothed and sen-ate ; radical one solitary, long-petioled. Stem-leaves 

 2-3, the uppermost sessile under the stalked, greenish- white flower. 



1 . H. Canadensis, L — Rich shaded soil along the mountains of Georgia 

 and Carolina, and northward. April and May. — Stem 1° high. Leaves 4' -9' 

 wide, hairy when young. 



16. ACT-SIA, L. Banebekry. 



Sepals 3-5, ovate, colored, imbricated in the bud, caducous. Petals 4-10, 

 spatulate, entire. Stamens numerous; the filaments filiform. Ovary solitary, 

 I-celled, becoming a many-seeded berry in fruit. Stigma sessile, 2-lobed. Seed 

 horizontal. — Perennial herbs. Stems simple, bearing one or two twice or thrice 

 ternately compound leaves, and a single oval or oblong raceme of small white 

 flowers. 



1. A. alba, Blgel. Smooth, or nearly so ; leaves large, 2 - 3-tcmate ; leaf- 

 lets thin, ovate or cordate-ovate, acutely toothed ; pedicels of the fruit very thick, 

 red ; berry white. (A. pachypoda. Ell.) — Rocky woods along the mountains of 

 South Carolina [Elliott), and northward. IMay. — Plant 2° high. 



17. CIMICIFUGA, L. Bugbank. 



Sepals 4-5, ovate or orbicular, colored, imbricated in the bad, caducous. 

 Petals 1-8, small, stalked, 2-lobed. Stamens A'cry numerous : filaments fili- 

 form, elongated. Ovaries 1 -8, 1-celled, becoming many-seeded follicles in fruit. 

 — Perennial herbs, with large ternately compound leaves, and white flowers in 

 elongated slender racemes. 



* Ovart/ mostly sim/le : stigma large, depressed : seeds horizontal, smooth. 

 1. C. raeemosa, Ell. (Black Snakeroot.) Leaves thrice temate; 

 leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate, the terminal ones mostly 



