264 BERBERIDACEAE 
cluster of white stamens as the conspicuous element of the flower. Fruit 
a dry pod-like follicle. 
1. C. racemosa, (L.) Nutt. (Fig. 6, pl. 44.) Bxack Conosu. 
Biack SNAkKeEROOT. A tall handsome plant in rich woods, often 5 ft. 
high or more, with very long and slender forked spikes of flowers. Pistil 
1, rarely 2 or 3. Clusters of feathery white stamens. Southern New 
England and southward, July. 
2. C, americana, Michx. AMERICAN BuGBANE. Plant generally not 
so Jarge as No. 1. Pistils 3 to 8, which develop into several more or less 
star-like groups of short inflated follicles. Southern Pennsylvania, Wat- 
kins, N. Y. <Aug.-Sept. 
20. ACTAEA, L. 
Erect branching herbs with 3-parted leaf stalks, each division fur- 
nished with 3 to 5 leaflets. Upper leaves without leaf-stalks. Leaflets 
generally more or less 3-lobed and more or less deeply notched. Flowers 
in an ovate or oblong white cluster. Petals much shorter than the spread- 
ing cluster of numerous stamens. Plants of both species from 1 to 2 ft. 
high. 
1. A. rubra, (Ait.) Willd. (Fig. 5, pl. 44.) Rep BAnrperry. 
Flower cluster egg-shaped or almost rounded. Leaflets egg-shaped, deeply 
notched at borders. Berries red when ripe. Common. May. 
2. A. alba, (L.) Mill. Wuire Baneserry. Flower cluster more 
elongated, oblong. Leaves also longer and narrower and more deeply 
incised. Berries white. Rich woods. Common. May. 
Famity VI.—BERBERIDACEAE. Barsperry FAMILY 
Shrubs and herbs. Leaves of the shrubs in rosette-like groups, 
those of the herbs solitary and springing directly from the root 
or from the flowering stem. Shrubs with stipulate leaves, herbs 
without stipules. Stamens equal in number to the petals or 
double the number. Pistil 1. Fruit a berry. 
1. BERBERIS, L. 
Shrub with spiny leaves and with grape-like pendant clusters of yellow 
flowers. Petals and sepals, each 6, exceptionally sepals exceed 6. Below 
the flower are found 2 or 3 bract-like bodies, 
B. vulgaris, L. (Fig. 1, pl. 51.) Barperry. Shrub 6 to 8 ft. high. 
Leaves in close groups of about 3, in a rosette, not in a perfect whorl 
but condensed. Below each of the groups of leaves are 3-forked spines 
which are modified leaves. Leaves pear-shaped, sharply notched, the 
serrations each terminated by a soft bristle. Fruit, an elongated berry, 
red when ripe. Woods and thickets; naturalized. May-June. 
2, CAULOPHYLLUM, Michx. 
Herbs with thickened rootstock, the compound leaf arising from the 
flowering stem. Calyx of 6 sepals, below which are 3 or 4 small scale- 
like bracts. Stamens 6, Seeds in berries. 
