18 RANUNCULACE^. Trollius. 



6. TROLLIUS. Linn. ; DC. syst. 1 . p. 31 1 ; Endl. gen. 4787. globe-flower. 



[Said to be derived from the German word troUa, or trolen, signifying a ball or globe.] 



Calyx of 5 - 10 - 15 deciduous petaloid sepals. Petals 5 - 25, small, 1-lipped, tubular at 

 the base. Stamens and ovaries numerous. Follicles numerous, sessile, somewhat cylin- 

 drical, many-seeded. — Perennial glabrous herbs having the appearance of Ranunculus, 

 with fibrous-fasciculate roots, and palmatcly divided leaves ; the segments many cleft. 

 Flowers yellow. 



1. Trollius laxus, Salish. (Plate III.) American Glohe-Jlower. 



Sepals 5-6, spreading; petals 15-25, shorter than the stamens. — -Salish. in Linn, trans. 

 8. p. 303 ; PursJi, fl. 2. p. 391 ; Bot. mag. t. 1988 ; Lodd. hot. cab. t. 56 ; Gray in ann. lye. 

 N. York, 3. p. 222 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. I. p. 28. T. Americanus, Muhl. cat. p. 56 ; 

 DC. prod. I. p. 46; Hook. fl. Bor.-A?n. l.p. 23. 



Plant 1-2 feet high, erect. Radical leaves on petioles 6-8 inches long ; upper cauline 

 ones sessile. Flower about twice as large as in Ranunuculus acris. Sepals broadly obovate, 

 ochrolcucous, with a tinge of green underneath. Petals scarcely half the length of the sta- 

 mens, deep orange yellow. Stamens about half the length of the petals ; anthers linear-oblong. 

 Carpels 8-15. Seed oblong, horizontal, somewhat angular. 



Sphagnous swamps near Utica {Dr. Gray). Jamestown, Chautauque county {Miss C. 

 Hazeltine). Wet woods, Mount Hope, near Rochester {Prof. Dewey). Fl. Early in May. — 

 A rare and handsome plant, looking at a little distance like a large-flowered Ranunculus. 



7. COPTIS. Salisb.inLinn.trans. 8. p. 305; Endl. gen. 4:792. goldthread. 



[From the Greek, koplo, to cut; in allusion to the numerous divisions of the leaves.] 



Calyx of 5 - 6 petaloid deciduous sepals. Petals 4-6. Stamens 15 - 25. Follicles 3- 10, 

 on long stalks iind somewhat stcllately diverging, membranaceous, ovate-oblong, pointed 

 with the style, 4 - 8-seeded. — Herbs, with radical somewhat coriaceous divided leaves and 

 very slender creeping rhizomas. 



§. CiiRYSA, Raf. Petals very small, cucullale-obconic. 



1. CopTis TRiFOLiA, Salisb. Common Goldthread. 



Leaves trifoliolate ; leaflets cuneiform-obovate, crenately and mucronately toothed, ob- 

 scurely 3-lobed ; scape 1-flowered. — Salisb. I. c; Pursh,fl. 2. p. 390; Bigel. med. bot. 1 

 t. 5; DC.prodr. l.p. 47; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 23 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 28. 

 Helleborus trifolius, Linn.; Michx.fl. l.p. 325. Chrysa borealis, Raf. in Dtsv. jour. bot. 

 2. p. 170. 



