RANUNCULACEJS. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 1! 



1O. ISOPYRUM, L. (ENEMION. Raf.) 



Sepals 5, petal-like, deciduous. Petals 5, minute, wanting in the American 

 species. Stamens 10-40. Pistils 3-6 or more, pointed with the styles. Pods 

 ovate or oblong, 2 -several-seeded. Slender smooth herbs, with 2-3-tcrmxtely 

 compound leaves ; the leaflets 2-3-lobed. Flowers axillary and terminal, 

 white. (Name from iVoy, equal, and irvpvs, wheat; of no obvious application.) 



1. I. biternatum, Torr. & Gray. Petals none; pistils 3-6 (com. 

 nionly 4), divaricate in fruit, 2-3-seeded ; seeds even, ty Moist shady pla- 

 ces, Ohio, Kentucky, and westward. May. Fibres of the root thickened here 

 and there into little tubers. Aspect and size of the plant much like Thalictrum 

 anemonoides. 



11. ALT HA, L. MARSH MARIGOLD. 



Sepals 6-9, petal-like. Petals none. Pistils 5-10, with scarcely any styles. 

 Pods (follicles) compressed, spreading, many-seeded. Glabrous perennials, with 

 round and heart-shaped, or kidney-form, large, undivided leaves. (Name from 

 KaXa#oy, a goblet, in allusion to the golden flower-cup or calyx.) 



1. C. palustris, L. (MARSH MARIGOLD.) Stem hollow, furrowed; 

 leaves round or kidney-shaped, either crenate or nearly entire ; sepals about 6, 

 broadly oval (bright yellow). Swamps and wet meadows, common north- 

 ward. April, May. This well-known plant is used as a pot-herb in spring, 

 when coming into flower, under the name of COWSLIPS ; but the Cowslip is a 

 totally Different plant, namely, a species of Primrose. The Caltha should bear 

 with us, as in England, the popular name of Marsh Marigold. (Eu.) 



12. TROLL, I US, L. GLOBE-FLOWER. 



Sepals 5-15, petal-like. Petals numerous, small, 1 -lipped, the concavity 

 near the base. Stamens and pistils numerous. Pods 9 or more, sessile, many- 

 seeded. Smooth perennials with palmately parted and cut leaves, like Ranun- 

 culus, and large solitary terminal flowers. (Name thought to be derived from 

 the old German word troll, a globe, or something round.) 



1. T. laxus, Salisb. (SPREADING GLOBE-FLOWER.) Sepals 5-6, 

 spreading; petals 15-25, inconspicuous, much shorter than the stamens. 

 Deep swamps, New Hampshire to Delaware and Michigan. May. Flowers 

 twice the size of the common Buttercup ; the sepals spreading, so that the name 

 is not appropriate, as it is to the European Globe-flower of the gardens, nor is the 

 blossom showy, being pale greenish-yellow. 



13. COPTIS, Salisb. GOLDTHREAD. 



Sepals 5-7, petaf-like, deciduous. Petals 5-7, small, club-shaped, hollow at 

 ft.e apex. Stamens .5-25. Pistils 3-7, on slender stalks. Pods divergent, 

 membranaccous, pointed with the style, 4-8-seedcd. Low smooth perennials, 

 with tcrnatcly divided root-lcjives, and small white (lowers on scapes. (Name 

 from K'forroi}, to cut alluding to the divided leaves.) 



