RANUNCDLACE^. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 47 



16. ZANTHORHIZA, Marshall. Shrub Yellow-eoot. • 



Scpnls 5, regular, spreading, dcciduons. Petals 5, much smaller than the, 

 sepals, concave and ohscurely 2-lobed, raised on a claw. Stamens 5 to 10. 

 Pistils 5-15, bearing 2 pendulous ovules. Pods 1-secdi'd, ohlong, the short 

 style* becoming dorsal in its growth. — ^A low shrui)by plant; the bark and the 

 long roots deep yellow and bitter. Flowers jjolygamous, brown purple, in com- 

 pound drooping racemes, appearing, along with the 1-2-pinnate leaves, from 

 large terminal buds in early spring. (Name compounded of $av66s, yellow, and 

 pi^a, nmt.) 



1. Z. apiifblia, L'ller. — Sh.idy banks of streams, Sherburne, New York, 

 Dr.. Douglass, and from the mountains of Pennsylvania southward. — Stems 

 clustered, 1 ° - 2° high. Leaflets cleft and toothed. — The rootstoeks of this, and 

 also of the next plant, were used as a yellow dye by the aborigines. 



17. HYDRASTIS, L. Or.vngi:-koot. Yellow puccoon. 



Sepals 3, petal-like, falling away when the flower opens. Petals none. Pis- 

 tils 12' or mor-e in a head, 2-ovuled : stigma flat, 2-lipped. Ovaries becoming a 

 head'of crimson 1 -2-seeded berries in fruit. — A low perennial heri), sending 

 up in early spring, from a thick and knotted yellow rootstock, a single radical 

 leaf, and a simple hairy stem, which is 2-leaved near the summit, and terminated 

 by a single greenish-white flower. (Name perhaps from vbwp., water, and bpcux), 

 to act, alluding to the active properties of the juice.) 



1 . H. Canadensis, L. — Rich woods, New York to Wisconsin and south- 

 ward : rare. -^ Leaves rounded, heart-shaped at the base, 5 - 7-lobed, doubly 

 serrate, veiny, when full grown in summer 4' -9' wide. 



18. KCm MK, L. Baneberry. 



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

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

 Pistil single : stigma sessile, depressed, 2-lobed. Fruit a many-seeded berry. 

 Seeds smooth, flattened, and packed horizontally in 2 rows. — Perennials, \vith 

 ample 2-3-ternately compound leaves, the ovate leaflets sharply cleft and 

 toothed, and a short and thick terminal raceme of white flowers. (Name from 

 aKXT), the Elder, from some resemblance in the leaves.) 



1. A. spicata, L., var. rubra, Michx. (Red Baneberry.) Raceme 

 orate; petals rhombic-spatulate, much shorter than the stamens; jwdicels slen- 

 der ; lierrifs chprri/-rfd, ova]. (A. brachype'tala, Z)C) — Rich woods, common, 

 especially northward. April, May. — Plant 2° high. (Eu.) 



2. A. alba, Bigel. (White Baneberry.) Taller and rather smoother 

 than the preceding; raceme ohlonf] ; jtttals slendtr , mosn\y truncate at the end, 

 apjiearing to be transformed stamens ; pedicels thirlvned in fruit, ns large as the 

 peduncle and red, the globular-oval herries while. (A. spicata, var. alba, Mtclvc., 

 and ed. 2. A. pachypoda, EU.) — Rich woods, flowering a week or two later 

 than the other, and more common westward and southward. — White berries 

 rarely occur with slender pedicels, also red berries with thick pedicels: but 

 these arc perhaps the result of crossing. 



