Vor. II.] CROWFOOT FAMILY. 71 
19. ATRAGENE L.. Sp. Pl. 543.1753. 
Perennial climbing vines, with opposite petioled compound leaves, and large showy pe- 
‘duncled flowers, solitary in the axils, or at the ends of the branches. Sepals very large, 
petaloid, mostly membranous and prominently veined. Petals small, spatulate. Stamens 
very numerous, the outer ones usually with broadened filaments. Styles long, persistent, 
plumose. [Ancient Greek name for some vine. ] 
About 3 species, natives of the north temperate zone. In addition to the following, another 
occurs in the Rocky Mountains and one in northwestern North America. 
1. Atragene Americana Sims. 
Purple Virgin’s Bower. 
(Fig. 1592.) 
Atragene Americana Sims, Bot. Mag. //. S87. 
1806. 
Clematis verticillaris DC. Syst. 1: 166. 1818. 
A trailing or partly climbing vine of rocky 
woodlands. Leaves trifoliolate; leaflets thin, 
ovate, acute, toothed or entire, more or less 
cordate; petioles slender; flowers solitary, 
purplish blue, 2/-4’ broad when expanded; 
sepals 4, thin and translucent, strongly 
veined, silky along the margins and the 
veins; petals spatulate, 6’/-9’’ long; persis- 
tent styles plumose throughout. 
Hudson Bay to Manitoba, south to Virginia 
and Minnesota. Ascends to 3000 ft. in the Cats- 
kills. May-June. 
20. MYOSURUS L.. Sp. Pl. 284. 1753. 
Diminutive annual herbs, with fibrous roots, basal linear entire leaves and 1-flowered 
scapes. Sepals 5 (rarely 6-7), long-spurred at the base. Petals the same number or none, 
when present greenish-yellow, narrow, the claw bearing a nectariferous pit at the summit, 
the limb spreading. Stamens 5-25, about equalling the sepals. Pistils numerous, borne on 
a central axis, which becomes greatly elongated in fruit. Ovule 1, suspended. Achenes 
apiculate or aristate. [Greek, mouse-tail. ] 
A genus of insignificant plants of local but wide geographic distribution, consisting of the spe- 
cies here figured and 4 others found in west America and Australia. 
1. Myosurus minimus IL. Mouse-tail. 
(Fig. 1593.) 
Myosurus minimus I,. Sp. Pl. 284. 1753. 
Myosurus Shortit Raf. Am. Journ. Sci. 1: 379. 1819. 
Myosurus minimus var, Shortit Huth, Engler’s Bot. Jahrb. 
10: 284. 1893. 
Low, glabrous, 1/-6’ high, the scape at length sur- 
passing the leaves and the elongated receptacle attain- 
ing the length of 1’ or more. Leaves all basal, 2/—4/ 
long, narrowly linear, blunt; petals present, small; 
achenes glabrous, apiculate, 
In moist places, southern Ontario to Illinois, Kentucky 
and Florida. Reported from the Pacific Coast. Also in 
central Europe. At Norfolk, Va., the plant seems to have 
been introduced. April-July. 
