RANUNCULACE^.. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 47 



palraately cleft or dissected leaves, and showy flowers in racemes or panicles. 

 (The ancient Greek and Latin name, of uncertain origin.) 



1. A. Noveboracense, Gray. Erect from tuberous-thickened roots, 

 2° high, leafy, the summit and strict loosely flowered raceme pubescent ; leaves 

 rather deeply parted, the broadly cuneate divisions 3-cleft and incised ; flowers 

 blue, the helmet gihhous-ohovate with broad rounded summit and short descend- 

 ing beak. — Chenango and Orange Cos., N. Y. 



2. A. uneinatum, L. (Wild Monkshood.) Glabrous; stem slender, 

 from tuberous-thickened roots, erect, but weak and disposed to climb; leaves firm, 

 deeplij 3-5-lobed, petioled, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, coarsely toothed; flowers 

 blue ; helmet erect, obtuselij conical, compressed, slightly beaked in front. — Rich 

 shady soil along streams, Penn., and southward in the mountains ; Wise. 

 June - Aug. 



•3. A. reclinatura, Gray. (Trailing Wolfsbane.) Glabrous; stems 

 trailing (3-8° long) ; leaves deeplij 3-7-cleft, petioled, the lower orbicular in 

 outline; the divisions wedge-form, incised, often 2 -3-\ohed; flowers white, in 

 very loose panicles ; helmet soon horizontal, elongated-conical, with a straight 

 beak in front. — Cheat Mountain, Va., and southward in the Alleghanies. 

 Aug. — Lower leaves 5-6' wide. Flowers 9'' long, nearly glabrous. 



19. CIMICIFUGA, L. Bigbane. 



Sepals 4 or 5, falling off soon after the flower expands. Petals, or rather 

 transformed stamens, 1-8, small, on claws, 2-horned at the apex. Stamens 

 as in Actaea. Pistils 1 -8, forming dry dehiscent pods in fruit. — Perennials, 

 with 2-3-ternately-divided leaves, the leaflets cut-serrate, and white flowers 

 in elongated wand-like racemes. (Name from cimex, a bug, awdfugo, to drive 

 away.) 



§ 1. CIMICIFUGA proper. Pistils 3-8, stipitate ; seeds flattened laterally, 

 covered with chaflg scales, in one row in the membranaceous pods ; stfle 

 awl-shaped ; stigma minute. 



1. C. Americana, Michx. (American Bigbane.) Stem 2-4° high; 

 racemes slender, panicled , ovaries mostly .5, glabrous ; pods flattened, veiny, 

 6 - 8-seeded. — Mountains of S. Penn. and southward. Aug. - Sept. 



§2. MACROTYS. Pistil solitar//, sometimes 2-3, sessile; seeds smooth, 

 flattened and packed horizontall g in the pod in two rows, as in Acteea ; 

 stigma broad and flat. 



2. C. racemosa, Nutt. (Black Snakeroot. Black Cohosh.) Stem 

 3-8° high, from a thick knotted rootstock ; racemes in fruit becoming 1-3° 

 long; pods ovoid. — Rich woods, Maine to Wise, and southward. July. — 

 Var. DissECTA, Gray. Leaves irregularly pinnately decompound, the rather 

 small leaflets incised. — Centreville, Del. (Commons.) 



20. ACT-^A, L. Caxererry. Cohosh. 



Sepals 4 or .5, falling off when the flower expands. Petals 4-10, small, flat, 

 spatulate, on slender claws. Stamens numerous, with slender white filaments 

 Pistil single ; stigma sessile, depressed, 2-lobed. Fruit a many-seeded berrv 



