96 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 





I. PARNASSIA. 



Perennial herbs ; basal leaves long-petioled, entire ; the 

 slender scape bearing a single, sessile leaf; flowers large, 

 solitary ; sepals 5, persistent, united at the base ; petals 5, 

 spreading; fertile stamens 5, alternate with the petals; abor- 

 tive stamens numerous, in clusters at the base of each petal ; 

 ovary 1-celled, with 3-4 parietal placentae ; seeds numerous. 



P. Caroliniana Michx. Grass-of-Parnassus. Basal leaves 

 ovate or cordate, rounded at the apex, often decurrent into the 

 petioles; cauline leaf ovate, clasping; scape 12-18 in. high; flower 

 1-1^ in. broad ; sepals ovate ; petals oval, white with greenish veins ; 

 abortive stamens 3 in each set, distinct, much longer than the 

 recurved fertile ones ; capsule ^-^ in. long. June-October. On 

 damp soil. 



II. ITEA. 



Shrubs or small trees ; leaves alternate, simple, deciduous, 

 exstipulate ; flowers white, in slender, drooping, terminal 

 racemes ; calyx campanulate, 5-cleft ; petals 5, inflexed at 

 the apex ; stamens 5, shorter than the petals ; ovary 2-celled, 

 many-seeded. 



I. ViRGiNiCA L. Itea. a shrub, 4-10 ft. high ; twigs pubes- 

 cent ; leaves oblong or oval, short-petioled, acute or acuminate at 

 the apex, sharply serrate, glabrous or somewhat pubescent beneath ; 

 racemes slender, dense, 3-6 in. long ; flowers short-pediceled, white, 

 ^-^ in. wide ; petals narrowly lanceolate, erect or spreading ; capsule 

 2-grooved, pubescent, tipped by the persistent, 2-parted style. April- 

 June. Common in wet places. 



III. HYDRANGEA. 



Erect shrubs ; leaves simple, opposite, petioled, exstipu- 

 late ; flowers in terminal corymbs, marginal flowers often 

 sterile with enlarged and showy calyx lobes, fertile flowers 

 small; calyx tube hemispherical, 8-10-ribbed, coherent with 

 the ovary, limb 4-5-cleft ; petals 4-5 ; stamens 8-10 ; capsule 

 2-4-celled, crowned with the divergent styles, many-seeded. 



1. H. RADiATA Walt. Downy Hydrangea. Shrub, 6-8 ft. 

 tall ; leaves ovate, often cordate at the base, acute or acuminate at 



