RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 407 



Seed-coat usually wrinkled or scaly. — Perennials, with palmately cleft or dis- 

 sected leaves, and showy flowers in racemes or panicles. (The ancient Greek 

 and Latin name, of uncertain origin.) 



L A. noveboracense Gray. Erect from tuberous-thickened roots, high, leafy, 

 the summit and strict loosely flowered raceme pubescent ; leaves rather deeply 

 parted, the broadly cuneate divisions 3-cleft and incised ; flowers blue ; the hel- 

 met gibhous-oh ovoid with broad rounded summit and short descending beak. — 

 Chenango, Orange, and Ulster Cos., N. Y. ; also Summit Co., O. ; and reported 

 from Allamakee Co., la, {PammeV). 



2. A. uncinatum L. (Wild M.) Glabrous; stem slender^ from tuberous- 

 thickened roots, erect, but weak and disposed to climb; leaves firm, deeply 3-5- 

 lobed, petioled, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, coarsely toothed ; flowers blue ; hel- 

 met erect, obtusely conical, compressed, slightly beaked in front. — Rich shady 

 soil along streams, Fa., and southw. in the mts. ; Wise. June-Aug. 



3. A. reclinatum Gray. (Trailing W.) Glabrous ; stems trailing, 1-3 m. 

 long ; loaves deeply S-7-cleft, petioled, the lower orbicular in outline, 12-15 

 cm. wide ; the divisions wedge-form, incised, often 2-3-lobed ; floivers white, 

 1.8 cm. long, nearly glabrous, in very loose panicles ; helmet soon horizontal, 

 elongated-conical, with a straight beak in front. — Cheat Mt., Va., and southw. 

 in the Alleghenies. Aug. 



20. CIMICfFUGA L. Bugbanb 



Sepals 4 or 5, falling off soon after the flower expands. Petals, or rather 

 transformed stamens, 1-8, small, on claws, 2-horned at the apex. Stamens as in 

 Actaea. Pistils 1-8, forming dry dehiscent pods in fruit. — Perennials, with 

 2-3-ternately divided leaves, the leaflets cut-serrate, and white flowers in elon- 

 gated wand-like racemes. (Name from cimex, a bug, and /wgrere, to drive away. ) 



§ 1. ACTINOSPORA (Turcz.) B. & H. Pistils 3-S, stipit ate ; seeds flattened 

 laterally, covered with chaffy scales, in one row in the membranaceous 

 pods; style aicl-shaped; stigma minute. 



1. C. americana Michx. (American B.) Stem 6-12 dm. high; racemes 

 slender, panicled ; ovaries mostly 5, glabrous ; pods flattened, veiny, 6-8-seeded. 

 — Watkins, N. Y. (according to Britton) ; mountains of s. Pa., and southw. 

 Aug. -Sept. 



§ 2. MACROTRYS (Raf.) T. & G. (as Macrotys). Pistil solitary or sometimes 

 2-3, sessile; seeds smooth, flattened and packed horizontally in the pod in 

 two rows, as in Actaea ; stigma broad and flat. 



2. C. racembsa (L.) Nutt. (Black Snakeroot, Black Cohosh.) Stem 

 1-2.6 m. high, from a thick knotted rootstock ; leaves 2-3-ternately and then 

 often quinately compound ; leaflets subcuneate to subcordate at the base ; racemes 

 in fruit becoming 3-9 dm. long; pods ovoid. — Rich woods, s. N. E. to Wise, 

 and southw. ; cultivated and escaped eastw. July. Var. dissecta Gray. 

 Leaves irregularly pinnately decompound, the rather small leaflets incised. — 

 Local, s. w. Ct. (Fames) to Del. (Commons). 



Var. cordif51ia (Pursh) Gray. Leaflets few (about 9), very large (1-2.5 dm. 

 long), at least the terminal one deeply cordate. (C. cordifolia Pursh.) — Damp 

 woods, mts. of s. w. Va. to N. C. and Tenn. — Said to flower later than the 

 typical form. 



21. ACTAEA L. Baneberry. Cohosh 



Sepals 4 or 5, falling off when the flower expands. Petals 4-10, small, flat, 

 spatulate, on slender claws. Stamens numerous, with slender white filaments. 

 Pistil single ; stigma sessile, depressed, 2-lobed. Seeds smooth, flattened, and 

 packed horizontally in 2 rows. — Perennials, with ample 2-;5-ternately compound 

 leaves, the ovate leaflets sharply cleft and toothed, and a short and thick ter 



