Aclcea. EANUNCULACE^. 65 



Botrophis serpentarin, Raf. Med. Fl. i. 85, t. 16. B. acteoides, Fisch. & Meyer, 1. c. 21. — 

 Open woods, &c., in rich soil, S. New Euglaud aud Upper Canada to Wisconsin, and south 

 to Missouri, Tennessee, aud Georgia; ti. early summer. Foliage runs to the following 

 extreme varieties or monstrosities : — 



Var. cordifolia, Gkay. Leaflets only about 9, ample (4 to 6 or even 10 inches loug), 

 at least the terminal ones cordate at base aud 3-lobed. — Gray in Patterson, Checklist, ed. 

 1892, 1. C. cordifolia, Pursh, Fl. ii. 373 (excl. syn.) ; Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 2069; Torr. & Gray, 

 1. c. (where char, of seeds, &c. must belong to C. Americana) ; Gray, Am. Jour. Sci. xlii. 47. 

 Ackea cordifolia, DC. Syst. i. 383. — Damp woods, mountains of N. Carolina.^ 



Var. dissecta, Gray. Leaves irregularly piuuately decompound ; leaflets compara- 

 tively small, oblong or lanceolate, laciuiate or iucised. — Man. ed. 6, 47. — CentreviUe, 

 Delaware, A. Commons. 



18. ACT^A, L. Baneberry, also called Cohosh. ('AKrea, Greek, 

 Actcea, Latin name of the Elder, transferred by LinujEus.) — Perennial herbs (of 

 temperate parts of northern hemisphere), several forms almost of one species ; 

 glabrous or soon glabvate ; with simple 1-2-leaved stems from short and branch- 

 ing rootstock, terminated by a short and simple or sometimes forked raceme (and 

 sometimes a second one) of small white flowers, produced in spring : leaves 

 ample, ternately or quinately decompound : leaflets commonly ovate or oblong, 

 iucised or some 2-3-cleft, and irregularly dentate : berries ripening late in sum- 

 mer, mostly black in the Old World, red or white in the New. — Gen. no. 427 ; 

 Gray, Gen. 111. i. 49, t. 19. 



A. spicata, L. Raceme at first ovate or corymbiform : petals usually rhombic-spatulate : 

 berries slender-pedicelled, oval, at maturity black. (Eu., Asia.) 



Var. rubra, Ait. Berries cherry-red, or sometimes white, iu a barely oblong raceme. 

 — Kew. ii. 221 ; Michx. Fl. i. 308. A. Americana, var. rubra, Pursh, Fl. ii. 366. ^1. brach;/- 

 petala, var. rubra, DC. Syst. i. 38.5. A. rubra, Willd. Enum. 561 ; Bigel. Fl. Bost. ed. 2, 211 ; 

 Hook. Fh Bor.-Am. i. 27 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 35;, Gray, Gen. 111. i. 50, t. 19. A. hngipes, 

 Spach, Hist. Veg. vii. 388. — Woods, Newfoundland to the Saskatchewan district, and Rocky 

 Mountains, and south to Pennsylvania, Missouri, &c. 



Var. arglita, Tore. Berries either red or white : raceme elongating in age : leaflets 

 more deeply incised, sometimes more sharply dentate : stem disposed to be taller. — Pacif. 

 R. Rep. iv. 63; Wats. Bot. King Exp. 12; Brew. & Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 12. A. arcjuta, ^ntt. 

 iu Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 35. A. rubra, var. arguta, Lawson, Rev. Cauad. Ranunc. 84. — 

 Rocky Mountains, Montana to coast of Brit. Columbia, California, and New Mexico, east- 

 wardly passing into the preceding form. (N. Asia.) 



A.* viridiflora, Greene. Stems several from the same root : flowers even during anthesis 

 iu a narrow oblong spike : pedicels during anthesis a line or two, at fruiting three lines 

 long, reddish, much more slender than in tlie next : bractlets a third to half the length 

 of the pedicels: petals oblong-lanceolate: stamens greenish. — Pittonia, ii. 109. — San 

 Francisco Mountains, Arizona, Rusby, Greene. 



A. alba, Mill. Raceme from the first oblong, hardly elongating: leaflets more incised and 

 sharply dentate : petals more like staminodes, narrow and usually truncate : pedicels short 

 and stout, in fruit as thick as the axis of the raceme, becoming red: berries globose-oval, 

 bright wliite (but rarely by hybridization, purplisli red). — Diet. ed. 8, no. 2; Eaton, Man. 

 ed. 2, 1818, 123 ; Bigel. Fl.Bost. ed. 2, 211 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 27 ; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. ; 

 Gray, Man. ed. 5, 47 ; Lawson, 1. c. 83 ; Lloyd Bros. Am. Drugs &. Med. i. t. 18, f. 73-75, 

 78. A. spicata, var. alba, L. Spec. i. 504; Michx. 1. c. A. Americana, var. alba, Pursh, 1. c. 

 A. bracfiypetula, DC. Syst. i. 385, excl. var. rubra. & var. ccerulea (the latter is Caulophijllum). 



1 Also reported from near Knoxville, Tenn., by Kearney, Bull. Torr. Club, xx. 253, who states 

 that it flowers considerably later iu the season than the typical form. 



