CANADIAN EANUNCULACEiE. 83 



1. — ACT^A ALBA, Bigeloto. 



Stem scaly at the base, bearing abovit two ternately decompound leaves, the leaflets 

 ovate-acuminate, serrated, — and terminating in an erect raceme of small white flowers 

 Raceme elongated in flower, oblong, pedicels very thick and rigid in flower, and increasing 

 as the fruit ripens, becoming as large as the peduncle or axis, and thickened at the apex 

 so as to embrace the base of the fruit ; berries large, milk white, somewhat elongated or 

 egg shai^ed. Growing side by side with A. rubra, this i)lant, which is miich larger in all 

 its parts, flowers and ripens its fruit about a month later in the season, so that it is difiicult 

 to compare the two in the fresh state. 



Actœa alba. Bigelow, in Eaton's Manual, ed. 4, p. 187. Fl. Bost., ed. 2, p. 211. Hook., 

 Fl. Bor.-Am., I., p. 21. Torr. & Gr., Fl. N. A., I., p. 35. Torrey, Fl. N.York, I., p. 22. 

 Chapman, Fl. S. TJ. S., p. 11. Gray, Manual, ed. 5, p. 4*7. Lawsou, Ranunc. Canad., p. 51, 

 Watson, Bibl. Index, I., p. 2. Macoun, Cat., No. 18. 



Actœa spicala, var. alba. Linn. Sp. Plant., p. "722. Ait. £, Hort. Kew., III., p. 286. 

 Persoou, Syuops., IL, p. 61. Wood, CI. Bk. & FL, p. 212. Gray, Manual, ed. 2, p. 14. 



A. Americana, var. a. bacds niveis. Pursh, Fl. Am., IL, p. 366, (1814). 



A. brachypetala, var. a. alba. DC. Syst. Nat., I., p. 385, (1818). 



A.pachypoda. Elliott, Carolina, IL, p. 15, (1821). 



AconUum baccis niveis. Cornuti Canad., t. 11, (1635). 



Canada. — Michaux. About Lake Huron. — Dr. Todd. St. Helen's Island ; Kingston ; 

 Thorold ; Navy Island and Maiden. — Dr. P. W. Maclagan. Prescott. — B. Billings jun., 

 in Herb. Bot. Soc. Ca. Near Toronto, June 2nd, 1862 ; Blomidon, Nova Scotia, 1882. — 

 Lawson. Windsor, N.S. — Dr. How. Camden, Co. Addington, Out. — Dr. Dupuis. Belle- 

 ville, Out., frequent in rich woods ; throughout Quebec and Ontario, and through the 

 wooded country to the Coast Range in British Columbia. — Macoun. Does not pass north 

 of 53^ or 54° — Barnston. Hamilton, Ont. — Judge Logie. Anticosti. — Verrill. New Bruns- 

 wick.— Fow/er. Smith's Falls, Ont., 1843.— i)?-. P. W. Maclagan, in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. 

 Belleville, Out., 16th May, \%Q1 .—Macoun, in Herb. Can. Sïirvey. 



2. — AcT^A RUBRA, Willclenaw. 



Resembling the preceding in habit. Raceme compact, shortly oblong or hemi.spher- 

 ical in flower, the peduncle or general axis elongating slightly in fruit ; pedicels very 

 slender and dark in colour ; berries more or less drooping on their weak stalks, roundish- 

 oblong, somewhat oblique, with a longitudinal groove on one side, skin deep red, pulp 

 white, seeds dark. Plants of this species, from Blomidon, Nova Scotia, and Ottawa, Out., 

 agree in their season of ripening, which is much earlier than that of A. alba. The berries 

 are occasionally very small, without seeds. The slender pedicels appear to be a constant 

 character. 



Actœa rubra. Willdenow, Enumer. Berolin., p. 560, (1809). Bigelow, Fl. Bost. ed. 2, 

 p. 211. Hook., Fl. Bor.-Am., I., p. 27. Back's Expedition, p. 523. Torr. & Gr., Fl. N. A., 

 L, p. 35. Torrey, Fl. N.Y., I., p. 21. Gray, Gen. 111., I., p. 50, t. 19. PI. Fendlerianœi 

 p. 5. Lawson, Ranunc. Canad., p. 50. 



