

Corydalis formosa and Corydalis canadensis. 115 



ous to this neighborhood ; and so far, I have not had a doubt of their 

 being very distinct species. 



Valuable specific distinctions may sometimes be found in the roots 

 of plants; and though such are rarely wanted, yet when doubts of 



the distinctness of two species arise, a resort to such characteristics 

 may settle the question. Thus tubers are attached to the roots of 

 C canadensis, nearly globular, and so much resembling the grains 

 of yellow maize which occur near the ends of the ears, that the pop- 

 ular name for this plant is " squirrel corn." C. formosa, on the con- 

 trary, has a scaly bulb ; and a reference to the drawings will show 



thera to be remarkably distinct. 



In all our specimens of C. canadensis, there is only one leaf; but 

 in C. formosa the leaves are numerous; the leaf-stalks, rising on all 

 sides from the crown of the root, and which in this manner is grad- 

 ually elongated. New shoots from the sides of the primary, also pro- 

 trude, partially supported by their own roots ; and in consequence, 

 the plant is readily increased by division. 



The difference in the shape of the leaf-stalks, is not less remark- 

 able. In C. canadensis it is terete ; in C. formosa, deeply chan- 

 neled on the upper side, becoming greatly enlarged and even winged, 

 near its base. 



The segments of the leaves in C canadensis are linear ; but in C 

 formosa, these are " oblong and ineisely pinnatifid." 



The racemes are widely different, being compound in the latter, 

 and simple in the former. 



I know of no difference produced in these plants by cultivation. 

 C canadensis grows naturally in the richest soils ; and instead of any 

 enlargement of its parts, I have found it rather to deteriorate in the 



garden. 



Another consideration might be conclusive with such botanists as 

 have cultivated or closely observed the peculiar constitutional tem- 

 peraments of plants. I am not aware that any treatment adopted by 

 gardeners, has ever caused such as are exclusively vernal, to veget- 

 ate and blossom through the summer. All the showers of the finest 

 growing season, have never been able in my garden to start a snow- 

 drop or a crocus, a tulip or a hyacinth, from its dormant state. The 

 law appears to be as irrevocable as the law of the seed which gives 

 form to the future plant; and it may therefore, with great propriety, 

 be taken as a part of the specific character. C. canadensis is strict- 

 ly vernaL About the close of spring it disappears, leaving not a 



