48 RANUNCULACE^. (CKUWlOOT lAMlLV.) 



8eeds smooth, flattened, and packed horizoutally in 2 rows. — Perennials, with 

 ample 2 - 3-ternately compound leaves, the ovate leaflets sharply cleft and 

 toothed, and a short and thick terminal raceme of Avhite flowers. (From d/cTea. 

 actcea, ancient names of the elder, transferred by Linnaeus.) 



1. A. spicata, L., var. rubra, Ait. (Red Baneberky.) Raceme ovate ; 

 petals rhombic-spatulate, much shorter than the stamens; pedicels slender, 

 berries cherri/-red, or sometimes white, oval. — Rich Avoods, common, especially 

 northward. April, ]\Iay — Plant 2° high. (Eu.) 



2. A. alba, Bigel. (White Baneberky.) Leaflets more incised and 

 sharply toothed; racan^. oblong; petals slender, mostly truncate at the end, 

 appearing to be transformed stamens; pedicels thickened in fruit, as large as 

 the peduncle and red, the globular-oval berries white. — Rich woods, flowering 

 a week or two later than the other, and more common westward and south- 

 ward. — White berries rarely occur with slender pedicels, also red berries 

 with thick pedicels; but these are perhaps the result of crossing. 



21 HYDRASTIS, Ellis. Orange-root. Yellow Pdccoon. 



Sepals 3, petal-like, faUiug away when the flower opens. Petals none. Pis- 

 tils 12 or more in a head, 2-ovuled ; stigma flat, 2-lipped. Ovaries becoming a 

 head of crimson 1 -2-seeded berries in fruit. — A low perennial herb, sending 

 up in early spring, from a thick and knotted yellow rootstock, a single radical 

 leaf and a simple hairy stem, which is 2-leaved near the summit and termi- 

 nated by a single greenish-white flower. (Name unmeaning.) 



1. H. Canadensis, L. (Golden Seal, etc.) Leaves rounded, heart- 

 shaped at the base, 5-7-lobed, doubly serrate, veiny, when full grown in sum- 

 mer 4-9' wide. — Rich woods, N. Y. to Minn., and southward. 



22. XANTHORRHIZA, Marshall. Shrub Yellow-root. 



Sepals 5, regular, spreading, deciduous. Petals 5, much smaller than the 

 sepals, concave and obscurely 2-lobed, raised on a claw. Stamens 5 to 10. 

 Pistils 5-15, with 2 pendulous ovules. Pods 1 -seeded, oblong, the short style 

 becoming dorsal. — A low shrubby plant ; the bark and long roots deep yellow 

 and bitter. Flowers polygamous, brown purple, in compound drooping ra- 

 cemes, appearing along with the 1 - 2-pinnate leaves from large terminal 

 l)uds in early spring. (Name compounded of ^avQos, yellow, and pl^a, root.) 



1. X. apiifolia, L'Her. Stems clustered, 1-2° high; leaflets cleft and 

 toothed. — Shady banks of streams, Penn. to S W. New York and Ky., and 

 south in the mountains. The rootstocks of this, and also of the last plant, 

 were used as a yellow dye by the aborigines. 



Nigella Damasc^na, L.. the Fen^^el-flower, which offers a remarkable 

 exception in having the pistils partly united into a compound ovary, so as to 

 form a several-celled capsule, grows nearly spontaneously around gardens. 



