BUTTERCUP FAMILY 515 



1. PAEONIA L. 



Perennial herbs with ternately divitled leaves. Flowers large, solitary and 

 terminal. Calyx herbaceous, persistent. Sepals and petals 5 or 6, the latter 

 and the numerous stamens borne on a tleshy disk adnate to the base of the 

 <-alyx. Style short or none. Follicles 2 to 5, thick and leathery, several-seeded. 

 — Species about 15, western North America, Europe, Asia. (Paion, the physi- 

 cian of the gods.) 



1. P. brownii Dougl. "Western Peony. Somewhat fleshy plant S to 14 

 inches high ; leaves glaucous or pale, ternately or biternately divided, chietiy 

 basal, tlie lobes obovate to linear-spatulate ; peduncles 1 to 2 inches long ; flow- 

 ers % to li/o inches broad ; petals orbicular, plane, brownish red, thick and 

 leathery, scarcely longer than the roundish concave sepals ; follicles mostly 5, 

 broadly oblong, smooth, 1 to li/o inches long; stems several, bending over in 

 age and the pods resting on the ground. 



Brushy hillslopes: Southern California ; South Coast Kanges; Sierra Nevada 

 from Nevada Co. north. North to Washington and east to Utah. Apr.-May. 



Locs. — Palomar, Jepsoti 1501; Santa Monica Mts., Barher ; Sisquoc River Valley, M. S. 

 Baler; San Luis Mt., Sum.mer.i; Paso Eobles, Uaiy; Bell Sprs., Mendocino Co., Davy 5354; 

 Greasewood Hills, w. Tehama Co., Jepson ; Douglas City, Trinity Co., BlasdaJe ; Quartz Valley, 

 Siskiyou Co., Butler 1229; Ft. Bidwell, Manning; Hot Springs Valley, Plumas Co., Jepson 

 4102; Truckee, Sonne. 



Eefs.— P.iEONl.'V BROWNO Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 27 (1829), type loc. Mt. Hood, 

 Douglas; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 194 (1901). 



2. COPTIS Salisb. Goldthread. 



Low perennial herl)s with slender rootstoeks. Leaves basal, divided or com- 

 pound. Stems scapose, bearing 1 to 3 white flowers. Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like. 

 Petals 5 to 7, small, linear, hooded above. Stamens 10 to 25, Pistils 10 to 12, 

 stipitate, in fruit forming an umbel of follicles. — Species 9, northern hemi- 

 sphere. (Greek koptein, to cut, referring to the divided leaves.) 



1. . C. laciniata (jray. Scapes 2 or 3-flowered, 4 to 6 inches high; leaves tri- 

 foliolate, each leaflet deeply 3 to 5-eleft or divided, or more or less completely 

 replaced by 3 separate leaflets; leaflets ovate, serrate or incised, % to 2 inches 

 long; sepals slender, 4 to 5 lines long, the slender petals a third shorter; folli- 

 cles 4 to 6 lines long, exceeding the stipes. 



Woods, North Coast Ranges, near the coast, from Jlendocino Co. to Del 

 Norte Co. North to Washington. 



Locs. — Prairie Camp, Comptclie, upper Albion River, forming dense mats in the forest, aec, 

 Charlotte Hoal' ; Novo River, Charloltc Eoak; Van Duzen River near Buck Mt., Tracy 2729; 

 South Fork Smith R'iver, Jf;),s'0«. 2899. 



Ref. — CoPTis LACiNiAT.i Gray, Bot. Gaz. 12: 297 (1SS7), type spms. from Ore. and nw. Cal. 



3. CALTHA L. :\lARsn :\rARiGOLD. 



Perennial herljs, ours with round-cordate basal leaves and 1 to 2-flowered 

 scapes. Rootstock short, vertical, bearing a fascicle of strong fibrous roots. 

 Sepals 5 to 9, (in ours) white or bluish on back, showy. Petals none. Stamens 

 numerous. Pistils 5 to 10 (or to 24), bearing ovules in 2 rows along the ven- 

 tral suture, in fruit becoming follicles. — Species 16, all continents save Africa. 

 (Ancient Latin name; of the Marigold.) 



1. C. biflora DC. Scapes 1 or 2, erect, 2 to 10 iuchcs high, exceeding the 

 leaves; leaves crenate or nearly entire, 1 to 3 inches broad, broader than long, 

 the basal lobes overlapping, or their inner tips turned inward and ui)ward; 

 sepals fi to 9, oblong, 5 to 7 lines long; stamens about 130; follicles stipitate. 



Subalpine in marshy slopes or wet meadows: Sierra Nevada and far North 

 Coast Ranges, GlOO to 10,.500 feet. June-July. 



