RANUNCULACEJE. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 13 



2. D. tricoriie, Michx. (Dwarf Larkspur.) Leaves deeply 5-part- 

 ed, their divisions unequally 3 - 5-cleft ; the lobes linear, acutish ; raceme few- 

 flowered, loose; spur straightish, ascending; pods strongly diverging. 1J. — W. 

 Penn. to Illinois and southward. April, May. — Root a tuberous cluster. Stern 

 simple, 6'- 12' high. Flowers bright blue, sometimes white. 



3. B>. azilB'easns, Michx. (Azure Larkspur.) Leaves deeply 3-5- 

 parted, the divisions 2-3 times cleft ; the lobes all narrowly linear ; raceme 

 strict ; spur ascending, usually curved upwards ; pods 3-5, erect. 1J. — Wiscon- 

 sin, Illinois, and southward. May, June. — Stem l°-2° high, slender, often 

 softly pubescent. Flowers sky-blue or whitish. 



4. I>. Consolida, L. (Field Larkspur.) Leaves dissected into nar- 

 row linear lobes ; racemes rather few-flowered, loose ; pedicels shorter than the 

 bracts; petals all combined into one body; pod one, glabrous. (T) — Penn. (Mer- 

 cersburg, Porter) and Virginia, escaped from grain-fields : and sparingly along 

 road-sides farther north. (Nat. from Eu.) 



\7. ACONITUM, Toum. Aconite. Monkshood. Wolfsbane. 



Sepals 5, petal-like, very irregular ; the upper one (helmet) hooded or helmet- 

 shaped, larger than the others. Petals 2 (the 3 lower wanting entirely, or very 

 minute rudiments among the stamens), consisting of small spur-shaped bodies 

 raised on long claws and concealed under the helmet. Pistils 3-5. Pods sev- 

 eral-seeded. Seed-coat usually wrinkled or scaly. — Perennials, with palmately 

 cleft or dissected leaves, and showy flowers in racemes or panicles. ( The an- 

 cient Greek and Latin name, said to be derived from Acone, in Bithynia.) 



1. A. micmatuin, L. (Wild Monkshood.) Glabrous; stem slen- 

 der, erect, but weak and disposed to climb ; leaves deeply 3 - 5-lobed, petiolcd ; the 

 lobes ovate-ianceolate, coarsely toothed ; flowers blue; helmet erect, obtusely conical, 

 compressed, slightly pointed or beaked in front. — Rich shady soil along streams. 

 S. W. New York, and southward along the mountains. June -Aug. 



2. A. rcclinatltm, Gray. (Trailing Wolfsbane.) Glabrous ; 

 stems trailing (3° -8° long) ; leaves deeply 3-7-cleft, petiolcd, the lower orbicu- 

 lar in outline; the divisions wedge-form, incised, often 2-3-lobed; flowers white, 

 in very loose panicles ; helmet soon horizontal, elongated-conical, with a straight 

 beak in front. — Cheat Mountain, Virginia, and southward in the Alleghanies. 

 Aug. — Lower leaves 5' -6' wide. Flowers 9" long, nearly glabrous. 



IS. ZAITHOBHIZA, Marshall. Shrub Yellow-root. 



Sepals 5, regular, spreading, deciduous. Petals 5, much smaller than the 

 sepals, concave and obscurely 2-lobed, raised on a claw. Stamens 5 to 10 

 Pistils 5-15, bearing 2 or 3 pendulous ovules. Pods 1-seeded, oblong, the 

 short style becoming dorsal in its growth. — A low shrubby plant; the bark 

 and the long roots deep yellow and bitter. Flowers polygamous, dull purple, 

 in compound drooping racemes, appealing, along with the 1 - 2-pinnate leaves, 

 from large terminal buds in early spring. (Name compounded of t-avdos, yellow 

 and pi£a, root.) 



