DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 79 



IV. COPTIS, Salisb. 



Low, smooth perennials with 3-divided root-leaves. Flowers 

 small, white, on scapes. Sepals 5-7, petal-like, soon fall- 

 ing. Petals 5-7, small, club-shaped, tubular at the apex. 

 Stamens 15-25. Pistils 3-7, stalked. Pods thin and dry, 

 4-8-seeded. 



1. C. trifolia, Salisb. Gold Thread. A pretty, delicate plant, 

 with slender, 1-flowered scaj)es, from long, bright-yellow, thread-like 

 rootstocks, which are bitter and somewhat medicinal. Leaves later 

 than the flowers, each of 3 wedge-shaped leaflets, which finally 

 become shining and evergreen. Damp, cold woods and bogs. 



V. ACTiEA, L. 



Perennial ; stem simple. Leaves 2-3, compound in threes. 

 Leaflets ovate, sharply cut or toothed. Flowers white, in a 

 short and thick terminal raceme. Sepals 4-5, soon decidu- 

 ous. Petals 4-10, small. Pistil single ; stigma 2-lobed. 

 Fruit a many-seeded berry.* 



1. A. alba, Bigel. Baneberry. Stem erect, smooth or nearly so, 

 18-24 in. high. Leaves large and spreading ; leaflets thin. Racemes 

 very broad. Petals slender, truncate. Pedicels red, thickened in 

 fruiting; berries white. In rich woods, more common S.*- 



2. A. spicata, var. rubra, Ait. Red Baneberry. Stem about 

 2 ft. high. Raceme ovoid or hemispherical. Petals acute. Pedicels 

 slender. Berries usually red, sometimes white, ovoid. Common N". 



VL AQUILEGIA, Toum. 



Perennials with leaves twice or thrice palmately compound, 

 the divisions in threes. 



Sepals 5, petal-like, all similar. Petals 5, all similar, each 

 consisting of an expanded portion, prolonged backward into 

 a hollow spur, the whole much longer than the calyx. Pistils 

 5, forming many-seeded pods. 



1. A. canadensis, L. Wild Columbine. Flowers scarlet with- 

 out, yellow within, nodding ; spurs rather long. 



2. A. vulgaris, L. Garden Columbine. Flowers often double 

 and white, blue, or purple. Spurs shorter and more hooked. Cul- 

 tivated from Europe, and sometimes become wild. 



