BUTTERCUP FAMILY 515 



1. PAEONIAL. 



Perennial herbs with ternately divided leaves. Flowers large, solitary and 

 terminal. Calyx herbaceous, persistent. Sepals and petals 5 or 6, the latter 

 and the numerous stamens borne on a fleshy disk adnate to the base of the 

 calyx. Style short or none. Follicles 2 to 5, thick and leathery, several-seeded. 

 Species about 15, western North America, Europe, Asia. (Paion, the physi- 

 cian of the gods.) 



1. P. brownii Dougl. WESTERN PEONY. Somewhat fleshy plant 8 to 14 

 inches high ; leaves glaucous or pale, ternately or biternately divided, chiefly 

 basal, the lobes obovate to linear-spatulate ; peduncles 1 to 2 inches long ; flow- 

 ers ^4 to l!/2 inches broad; petals orbicular, plane, brownish red, thick and 

 leathery, scarcely longer than the roundish concave sepals; follicles mostly 5, 

 broadly oblong, smooth, 1 to iy 2 inches long; stems several, bending over in 

 age and the pods resting on the ground. 



Brushy hillslopes : Southern California ; South Coast Ranges ; Sierra Nevada 

 from Nevada Co. north. North to Washington and east to Utah. Apr.-May. 



Loes. Palomar, Jepson 1561 ; Santa Monica Mts., Barter; Sisquoc Eiver Valley, M. S. 

 Baker; San Luis Mt., Summers; Paso Eobles, Davy; Bell Sprs., Mendocino Co., Davy 5354; 

 Greasewood Hills, w. Tehama Co., Jepson; Douglas City, Trinity Co., Blasdale; Quartz Valley, 

 Siskiyou Co., Butler 1229; Ft. Bidwell, Manning; Hot Springs Valley, Plumas Co., Jepson 

 4102; Truckee, Sonne. 



Eefs. PAEONIA BROWNII Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 27 (1829), type loc. Mt. Hood, 

 Douglas; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 194 (1901). 



2. COPTIS Salisb. GOLDTHREAD. 



Low perennial herbs with slender rootstocks. Leaves basal, divided or com- 

 pound. Stems scapose, bearing 1 to 3 white flowers. Sepals 5 to 7, petal-like. 

 Petals 5 to 7, small, linear, hooded above. Stamens 10 to 25. Pistils 10 to 12, 

 stipitate, in fruit forming an umbel of follicles. Species 9, northern hemi- 

 sphere. (Greek koptein, to cut, referring to the divided leaves.) 



1. C. laciniata Gray. Scapes 2 or 3-flowered, 4 to 6 inches high ; leaves tri- 

 foliolate, each leaflet deeply 3 to 5-cleft or divided, or more or less completely 

 replaced by 3 separate leaflets ; leaflets ovate, serrate or incised, % to 2 inches 

 long ; sepals slender, 4 to 5 lines long, the slender petals a third shorter ; folli- 

 cles 4 to 6 lines long, exceeding the stipes. 



Woods, North Coast Eanges, near the coast, from Mendocino Co. to Del 

 Norte Co. North to Washington. 



Locs. Prairie Camp, Comptche, upper Albion Eiver, forming dense mats in the forest, ace. 

 Charlotte Hoakj Noyo Eiver, Charlotte EoaJc; Van Duzen Eiver near Buck Mt., Tracy 2729; 

 South Fork Smith Eiver, Jepson 2899. 



Eef. COPTIS LACINIATA Gray, Bot. Gaz. 12: 297 (1887), type spins, from Ore. and nw. Cal. 



3. CALTHA L. MARSH MARIGOLD. 



Perennial herbs, ours with round-cordate basal leaves and 1 to 2-flowered 

 scapes. Rootstock short, vertical, bearing a fascicle of strong fibrous roots. 

 Sepals 5 to 9, (in ours) white or bluish on back, showy. Petals none. Stamens 

 numerous. Pistils 5 to 10 (or to 24), bearing ovules in 2 rows along the ven- 

 tral suture, in fruit becoming follicles. Species 16, all continents save Africa. 

 (Ancient Latin name of the Marigold.) 



1. C. biflora DC. Scapes 1 or 2, erect, 2 to 10 inches high, exceeding the 

 leaves ; leaves crenate or nearly entire, 1 to 3 inches broad, broader than long, 

 the basal lobes overlapping, or their inner tips turned inward and upward; 

 sepals 6 to 9, oblong, 5 to 7 lines long ; stamens about 130 ; follicles stipitate. 



Subalpine in marshy slopes or wet meadows : Sierra Nevada and far North 

 Coast Ranges, 6100 to 10,500 feet. June-July. 



