UMBELLIFER^. 131 



3. ERIGENIA. A^j^^^.— Erigenia, 



(Erora the Greek npiyev^ia, a name of Aurora, the harbinger of day, or of the 

 taring ; on account of its being the first conspicuous flowering plant in the U. 

 S. Nutt.) 



Calyx with the margin obsolete. Petals 5, obovate, entire, 

 equal. Styles persistent, very long, subulate. Fruit oval, 

 somewhat laterally compressed. Carpels gibbously convex, 

 marked with 3 striae. — General involucre none ; partial one a 

 few unequal leafets. 



E. bulbosa Nutt. Sison buWosum Mich. Hydrocotyle composita Pursh. 



Wet grounds. N. Y. and Penn. W. to Miss, and Tenn. March, April. %. 

 — Root globose, tuberous. Stem simple, 4 — 5 inches high, 2-leaved. Leaves 

 3-parted ; partitions subpinnate ; segments rhomboid al, cleft. Umbels terminal, 

 3— -3 -flowered. Flowers white. Bulbous Erigenia. 



4. SANICULA. i:,i?i?/-.— Sanicle. 



(From the Latin sanio, to heal ; on account of its supposed medicinal virtues.) 



Calyx with the tube echinate, the lobes somewhat leafy and 

 persistent. Petals erect, connivent, obovate, deeply emargi- 

 nate. Fruit suberlobose, solid, not ribbed, armed with hooked 

 bristles. — Leafets of the involucre few, often divided. 



1. S. Martjlandica Linn.: leaves digitate ly 5— 7-parted, the segments 

 incisely and mucronately serrate ; sterile flowers numerous, distinctly pedi- 

 cellate, and nearly as long as the fertile ones ; styles long and recurved. 



Woods. Throughout the U, S. June — Aug. %. — Stem about 2 feet high, 

 branching at the top. Radical leaves on long petioles. Petals white or slightly 

 yellowish, obcordate. Long-styled Sanicle. 



2. S. Canadensis Linn. : leaves digitately 3 — 5-parted, the segments 

 incisely and mucronately serrate ; sterile flowers few, slightly pedicellate, 

 and much shorter than the fertile ones ; styles shorter than the prickles. 



Woods. Throughout the U. S. June— Aug. 7|..— Dr. Torrey, in his Flora " 

 of New York, has given figures of these two species, by which their difference 

 is fully shown. The latter may be distinguished by its less divided leaves, its 

 fewer sterile flowers, and especially by its very short inconspicuous styles. Both 

 species are medicinal and poisonous. See Big. Med. Bot. i. 125. 



Canadian Sanicle 



5. ERYNGIUM. Linn.— Eiyngo. 



(A name given by Dioscorides to this or some allied plant, from its supposed 

 virtue in cases of flatulence.) 



Calyx 5-parted ; tube rough with scales. Petals erect, con- 

 nivent, oblong-obovate, deeply emarginate. Fruit scaly or tu- 

 berculose.- — Flowers in a roundish or oblong head, blue or 

 white, bracteate. 



1. E. aquaticum Linn. : leaves linear-lanceolate, nerved, remotely ciliate- 

 spinose ; lower subensiform ; leafets of the involucre 7 — 9, mostly entire, 

 shorter than the ovate-globose pedunculate heads. E. yucccefolium Mich. 



