CROWFOOT FAMILY 359 



9. DELPHINIUM. Larkspur. Figs. 224, 225, 269, 270. 



Stems erect, simple or branching, with alternate leaves, petioled, pal- 

 mat. 1\ -divided or -lobed: flowers in a terminal raceme or panicle, white, blue, 

 purple and showy, with irregular sepals and petals; sepals 5, colored, the 

 upper spurred behind; petals 4 (rarely 2), the upper pair spurred, and in- 

 closed in the spur of the sepal; carpels 1-5, sessile, forming many-seeded 

 follicles. Several wild and cultivated species. 



D. Ajacis, Linn. Annual, 1-2 ft.: flowers purple, roseate or white, 

 sometimes double, many in crowded racemes; pistil 1: follicle pubescent, 

 with short, stout beak. Cultivated and a showy garden plant; sometimes 

 escaped from gardens. 



D. tricorne, Michx. Perennial, 6 in. to 1 or 2 ft.: flowers blue or white, 

 in few-flowered racemes (6-12): leaves 5-parted, the divisions 3-5-cleft: 

 pistils 3: follicles widely diverging, short-beaked. In rich soil, west of 

 Alleghanies. April to June. 



10. ACTJilA. Baneberry. 



Erect, perennial plants, in rich woods, 2-3 ft., with conspicuous red or 

 white berries: stems mostly simple, bearing large, ternately compound 

 leaves, the leaflets ovate but sharply cut-lobed or toothed: flowers small, 

 white, in thick terminal racemes; sepals 3-5, soon falling; petals 4-10, long- 

 clawed, flat, spatulate; stamens many, filaments white and slender; ovary 

 1, with a broad, sessile, 2-lobed stigma, many-ovuled. 



A. alba, Mill. White baneberry. Raceme oblong: petals truncate, 

 pedicels thickened, and usually red: berries white, ellipsoid. Common in 

 woods. April to June. 



A. rubra, Willd. Red baneberry. Raceme ovate or hemispherical; 

 petals acute; pedicels slender: berries cherry-red (sometimes white), oval 

 or ellipsoid. Common in woods, especially northward. In bloom, April, 

 May. 



11. CLEMATIS. Virgin's Bower. Figs. 77, 178. 



Herbs, or somewhat woody, generally climbing by clasping petioles: 

 leaves opposite, simple or compound: flowers apetalous, or petals very small; 

 sepals 4 (rarely more) and colored; stamens many, a number of them (some- 

 times all) usually sterile; pistils many in a head, bearing the persistent, 

 plumose or silky styles. Many large-flowered cultivated forms. 



C. verticillaris, DC. A woody climber, nearly smooth: leaves in whorls 

 of 4's, each 3-foliate: large, purple flowers 2-3 in. across, at each node. 

 Not common, belonging mainly to the North and to mountainous districts. 

 May, June 



C. Viorna, Linn. Leaves mostly pinnately compound, with 3-7 leaflets, 

 entire, or 3-lobed: flowers solitary and usually nodding on long peduncles, 

 bell-shaped, having peculiarly thick sepals, with their points recurved; 

 purplish-red color: the long akenes plumose. Climbing. Pennsylvania, west. 



May to August. 



C. virginiana, Linn. Common virgin's bower. Old-man vine (from 



