214 VALKUIANACK-K. (VALKUIAN FAMILY.) 



ob!ong-ovate or lanceolate nearly entire leaflets ; cyme at first close, many- 

 flowered ; corolla Inviri^ilij conical (3" loni;, rosc-eolor or white). — Cedar swamps, 

 Western Vermont to Wisconsin and nortinvanl. June. (Probably a form of 

 V. dioiea, L.) n. 



* Hoot s/iindh'-shapcd, larr/e and deep (6' -12' long) : leaves thickish. 

 3. V. 6dulis, Nutt. Smooth, or minntcly downy when very yonng ; stem 

 straight (l°-4° high), few-leaved; leaves commonly minutely and densely 

 ciliate, those of the root spatulate and lanceolate, of the stem pinnately parted 

 into 3-7 long and narrow divisions ; flowers in a long and narrow interrupted 

 panicle, nearly diu'cious ; corolla whitish, obconieal (2" long). (V. ciliiita, 

 Torr. ^- Gr.) — Alluvial ground, Ohio to Wisconsin, and westward. June. 



2. FEDIA, Gicrtn. Coun Salad. L.vmb-Lettuce. 



Limb of the calyx obsolete or merely toothed. Corolla funnel-form, equally 

 or unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 3, rarely 2. Fruit 3-celled, two of the cells 

 empty and sometimes confluent into one, the other 1-seeded. — Annuals and 

 biennials, usually smooth, with forking stems, tender and rather succulent leaves 

 (entire or cut-lobed towards the base), and white or whitish cymose-clustered 

 and bracte'd small flowers. (Name of uncertain derivation.) — Our species all 

 have the limb of the calyx obsolete, and are so much alike in aspect, flowers, 

 &c., that good characters are only to be taken from the fruit. They all have 

 a rather short corolla, the limb of which is nearly regular, and therefore be- 

 long to the section (by many botanists taken as a genus) Valkuianella. 



1. F. OLiTURiA, Vahl. Fndt compressed, oblique, at length broader than 

 long, with (I corkij or sponpi/ moss at the buck of the fi-rlUe cell nearli/ as larfje as the 

 (often confluent) emj)ti/ cells; flowers bluish. — Fields, New York and Peim. 

 to Virginia : rare. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. F. Fagopyrum, Ton-. & Gr. Fruit ordte-triniifjiilnr, smooth, not t/rooued 

 between the (at length confluent) em pti/ cells, which form the anterior am/le, and are 

 much smaller than the broad and JIat fertile one ; flowers white. — Low grounds, 

 from Western New York to Wisconsin and Kentucky. May, June. — Plant 

 l°-20 high. 



3. F. radi^ta, Michx. Fruit ovoid, downi/ (rarely smooth), oldnseli/ and 

 tmequally somewhat A-amjled ; the empti] cells parallel and contifjuons, but with a 

 deep groove between them, rather narroicer than the flat tish fertile cell. — Low 

 grounds, Penn. to Michigan, an<l southward. — Plant 6' -15' high. 



4. F. Umbilic^ta, Sulliv. Fmit (/lolndar-omte, smooth; the much in flat d 

 sterile cells wider and many times thicker than the flattish feHile one, contiguous, and 

 when yovmg with a-common partition, u-hen grown, indented with a deep circular 

 depressiou in the middle, opening into the confluent sterile cells; bracts not cili- 

 ate. — Moist grounds, Columbus, Ohio, SulJivant. (Sill. Jour. Jan. 1842.) 



5. F. patell^l'ia, Sulliv. Fruit smooth, circular, platter-shafied or disk-like, 

 slightly notched at both ends, the flattrned-concave sterile cells widili/ divergent, 

 much broader than the fertile one, and forming a kind of wing arotmd it when 

 ripe. — Low grounds, Columbus. Ohio, Sullivant. — Plant l°-2° high, resem- 

 bling the last, but with a very diflerent fruit. 



