GENUS 10. 



CROWFOOT FAMILY. 



Black Cohosh. 



Carpels i or 2, sessile ; seeds in 2 rows, smooth. 



Leaflets ovate, oblong or obovate, narrowed, truncate or subcordate at the base. i. C.racemosa. 



Leaflets broadly ovate or suborbicular, deeply cordate. 2. C. cordifolia. 



Carpels 2-8, stalked ; seeds in i row, chaffy. 3. C. americana. 



i. Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. Black Snakeroot. 



Fig. 1864. 



Actaea racemosa L. Sp. PI. 504. 1753. 

 Cimicifuga racemosa Nutt. Gen. 2: 15. 1818. 



Cimicifuga racemosa dissecta A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 

 47. 1890. 



Stem slender, 3-8 high, leafy above ; root- 

 stock thick. Leaves ternate, the divisions 

 pinnate and the ultimate leaflets often again 

 compound ; leaflets ovate or oblong, or the 

 terminal one obovate, acute or sometimes ob- 

 tusish at the apex, narrowed, truncate or the 

 lo\\er subcordate at base, incisely-toothed, 

 cleft, divided, or occasionally dissected, thick- 

 ish, nearly glabrous ; racemes compound, ter- 

 minal, 6'-3 long, usually finely pubescent; 

 pedicels bracted; flowers 6"-7" broad, foetid; 

 petals 4-8, 2-cleft; stamens very numerous; 

 pistils i or 2, sessile; stigma broad; follicles 

 oval, 3 "-4" long, minutely beaked; seeds in 

 2 rows, smooth, flattened. 



In woods, Maine and Ontario to Wisconsin, 

 south to Georgia and Missouri. Ascends to 4000 

 ft. in North Carolina. Rich-weed. Rattle-weed. Rattle-snakeroot. Rattle-top or -root. June-Aug. 



2. Cimicifuga cordifolia Pursh. 



Heart-leaved Snakeroot. 



Fig. 1865. 



Cimicifuga cordifolia Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 

 373- 1814- 



Cimicifuga racemosa var. cordifolia A. 

 Gray, Syn. Fl. i : Part i, 55. 1895. 



Tall, similar to the preceding species. 

 Leaflets few, very broadly ovate or or- 

 bicular, acute, obtuse or acuminate at 

 the apex, deeply cordate at the base, 

 sometimes 6' wide; pistil I, sessile; fol- 

 licles apparently very similar to those 

 of C. racemosa. An imperfectly under- 

 stood species, reported to flower later 

 than C. racemosa where the two grow 

 together. 



In woods, southwestern Virginia to 

 North Carolina and Tennessee. Tennes- 

 see specimens agree exactly with the figure 

 of this plant given in Botanical Magazine. 

 pi. 2069. Heart-leaved rattle-top. June- 

 July. 



