RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 405 



Mossy woods and swamps, Lab. to Alask., s. to Md., mts. of N. C. and Tenn., 

 Mich., and n. e. la. May-July. (Greenl., Eurasia,) 



14. HELLEBORUS [Tourn.] L. Hellebore 



Sepals 5, petal-like or greenish, persistent. Petals 8-10, very small, tubular, 

 2-lipped. Pistils 3-10, sessile, forming coriaceous many-seeded pods. — Peren- 

 nial herbs, with ample palmate or pedate leaves and large solitary nodding early 

 vernal flowers. (An ancient name of unknown meaning.) 



1. H. YiRiDis L. (Green H., Christmas Flower.) Root-leaves glabrous, 

 pedate; calyx spreading, greenish. — Has been found wild on L. I., in Pa., 

 K. J., and W. Va. Dec. -Apr. (Nat. from Eu.) 



15. ERANXmS Salisb. Winter Aconite 



Sepals 5-8, petal-like, deciduous. Petals small 2-lipped nectaries. Carpels 

 few% stipitate, several-seeded. — Perennial herbs, with palmately multifid radi- 

 cal leaves, the scape bearing a single large yellow flower surrounded by an 

 involucre of a single leaf. (Name from ^/j, spring, and at-^os, Jlov:er.) 



1. E. HYEMALis (L.) Salisb. Dwarf ; flowers cup-shaped, shorter than the 

 stamens. (Cammarum Greene.) — Often cultivated; established in e. Pa. 

 Feb., March. (Nat. from Eu.) 



16. NIGELLA [Tourn.] L. Fennel Flower 



Sepals 5, regular, petaloid. Petals small, ungeniculate, the blade bifid. 

 Pistils 5, partly united into a compound ovary, so as to form a several-celled 

 capsule. — An Old World genus, with blackish aromatic seeds, noteworthy in 

 the family in having a somewhat compound ovary. (Name a diminutive of 

 niger, black, from the color of the seeds.) 



1. N. DAMAscENA L. (LovE-iN-A-MisT.) FlowcT bluish, overtopped by a 

 finely divided leafy involucre. — Sometimes cultivated, and occasionally spon- 

 taneous around gardens. (Introd. from Eurasia.) 



17. AQUILEGIA [Tourn.] L. Columbine 



Sepals 5, regular, colored like the petals. Petals 5, all alike, with a short 

 spreading lip, produced backward into large hollow spurs, much longer than 

 the calyx. Pistils 5, with slender styles. Pods erect, many-seeded. — Per- 

 ennials, with 2-3-ternately compound leaves, the leaflets lobed. Flowers large 

 and showy, terminating the branches. (Name of doubtful origin.) 



1. A. canadensis L. (Wild C.) Flowers 5 cm. long, scarlet, yellow inside, 

 nodding, so that the spurs turn upward, but the stalk becoming upright in fruit ; 

 spurs nearly straight ; stamens and styles longer than the ovate sepals. — Rocks, 

 open woods, etc. Apr.-June. Var. Phippenii J. Robinson with salmon-colored 

 flowers, and var. flavifl6ra (Tenney) Britton with yellow flowers, are color 

 forms with paler foliage. A. coccinea Small — robust and with acuminate 

 sepals 13-21 mm. long — is a more or less marked and perhaps distinct species 

 of the South and West. 



2. A. VULGARIS L. (Garden C.) Flowers blue, purple, pink, or white; 

 spurs hooked. — Established in many places, especially north w. (Introd. from 

 Eu.) 



18. DELPHINIUM [Tourn.] L. Larkspur 



Sepals 5. irregular, petal-like ; the upper one prolonged into a spur at the 

 base. Petals 4 (rarely only 2, united into one), irregular, the upper pair con- 

 tinned backward into long spurs which are inclosed in the spur of the calyx, the 

 lower pair with short claws. Pistils 1-5, forming many-seeded pods in fruit. 

 — Leaves palmately divided or cut. Flowers in terminal racemes. (Name 



