RANUNCULACE^. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 89 



1. A. thalictroid.es, Spach. (RUE-ANEMONE.) Stem and slender pe- 

 tiole of radical leaf (a span high) rising from a cluster of thickened tuberous 

 roots; leaves 2 - 3-ternately compound; leaflets roundish, somewhat 3-lobed 

 at the end, cordate at the base, long-petiolulate, those of the 2 - 3-leaved 1-2- 

 ternate involucre similar ; flowers several in an umbel ; sepals oval (' long, 

 rarely pinkish), not early deciduous. (Thalictrum anemonoides, Michx.) 

 Woods, common, flowering in early spring with Anemone nemorosa, and 

 considerably resembling it. Rarely the sepals are 3-lobed like the leaflets. 



5. THALICTRUM, Tourn. MEADOW-RUE. 



Sepals 4-5, petal-like or greenish, usually caducous. Petals none. Achenes 

 4-15, grooved or ribbed, or else inflated. Stigma unilateral. Seed suspended. 

 Perennials, with alternate 2 - 3-ternately compound leaves, the divisions and 

 the leaflets stalked ; petioles dilated at base. Flowers in corymbs or panicles, 

 often polygamous or dioecious. (Derivation obscure.) 



* Flowers dioecious or sometimes polygamous, in ample panicles; filaments slen- 



der; stigmas elongated, linear or subulate ; achenes sessile or short-stipitate t 

 ovoid, pointed, strongly several-angled and grooved. 



1. T. dibicum, L. (EARLY MEADOW-RUE.) Smooth and pale or glau- 

 cous, 1-2 high ; leaves (2 - 3) all with general petioles ; leaflets drooping, 

 rounded and 3 - 7-lobed ; flowers purplish and greenish, dioecious ; the yel- 

 lowish anthers linear, mucronate, drooping on fine capillary filaments. 

 Rocky woods, etc. ; common. April, May. 



2. T. polygamum, Muhl. (TALL M.) Smooth, not glandular, 4-8 

 high ; stem-leaves sessile ; leaflets rather firm, roundish to oblong, commonly 

 with mucronate lobes or tips, sometimes puberulent beneath; panicles very 

 compound ; flowers white, the fertile ones with some stamens ; anthers not 

 drooping, small, oblong, blunt, the mostly white filaments decidedly thickened 

 upwards. (T. Cornuti, Man., not L.) Wet meadows and along rivulets, N. 

 Eng. to Ohio and southward ; common. July - Sept. 



3. T. purpurascens, L. (PURPLISH M.) Stem (2-4 high) usually 

 purplish ; stem-leaves sessile or nearly so ; leaflets more veiny and reticulated 

 beneath, with or without gland-tipped or glandless hairs or waxy atoms; 

 panicles compound; flowers (sepals, filaments, etc.) greenish and purplish, 

 dioecious ; anthers linear or oblong-linear, mucronulate, drooping on capillary 

 filaments occasionally broadened at the summit. Dry uplands and rocky hills, 

 S. New Eng. to Minn., and southward. May, June. 



* * Flowers all perfect, corymbed ; the filaments strongly club-shaped or inflated 

 under the small and short anther ; stigma short; achenes gibbous, long-stipitate. 



4. T. clavatum, DC. Size and appearance of n. 1 ; leaves only twice 

 ternate; flowers white, fewer; achenes 5-10, flat, somewhat crescent-shaped, 

 tapering into the slender stipe. Mountains of Va. and southward. June. 



6. TRATJTVETTERIA, Fisch. & Mey. FALSE BUGBANE. 

 Sepals 3-5, usually 4, concave, petal-like, very caducous. Petals none. 

 Achenes numerous, capitate, membranaceous, compressed-4-angled and in- 

 flated. Seed erect. A perennial herb, with alternate palmately-lobed leaves, 

 and corymbose white flowers. (For Prof, Trautvetter, a Russian botanist.) 



