RANUNCULACEAE. 



3. Caltha natans Pall. 



marigold. 



[VOL. II. 



Floating Marsh- 

 (Fig. 1547.) 



Caltha natans Pall. Reise Russ. 3: 284. 1776. 



Stems slender, floating or creeping in wet 

 places, rooting at the nodes, 6 / -i8 / long, branch- 

 ing. Lower and basal leaves slender-petioled, 

 cordate-renifonn, i'-2' wide, crenate or entire, 

 thin, cordate with a narrow sinus; upper leaves 

 short-petioled, smaller; flowers white or pink, 

 6 // ~9 // broad; sepals oval, obtusish; follicles 

 several or numerous, rather densely capitate, 

 about 2" long, the beak short and straight. 



In pools and streams, Tower, Mich., Athabasca, 

 arctic America and northern Asia. Summer. 



3. TROLLIUS L. Sp. PI. 556. 1753. 



Erect or ascending perennial herbs, with palmately divided or lobed leaves, thickened 

 fibrous roots, and large usually solitary yellowish or purplish flowers. Sepals 5-00 , petaloid, 

 deciduous. Petals 5-30 , small, unguiculate, linear, with a nectariferous pit at the base of 

 the blade. Carpels 5-00 , sessile, many-ovuled, forming a head of follicles in fruit. Stamens 

 numerous. [Old German, trol, something round.] 



About 10 species, mainly inhabiting marshy places, natives of the north temperate zone. Only 

 the following one is North American, unless the Rocky Mountain plant proves to be distinct. 



i. Trollius laxus Salisb. American Globe- 

 flower. (Fig. 1548.) 



Trollius Americanus Muhl. Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 

 3: 172, name only. 1791. 



Trollius laxus Salisb. Trans. I.inn. Soc. 8: 303. 1803. 



Stems slender, weak, ascending, i-2 long. 

 Leaves all but the upper petioled (the lower peti- 

 oles sometimes a foot long), palmately 5~7-parted, 

 z'-4 f wide, the segments obovate, cuneate, lobed, 

 cleft or toothed; flowers generally solitary, i#' 

 broad; sepals 5-7, ovate or obovate, obtuse, spread- 

 ing; petals 15-25, minute, much shorter than the 

 numerous stamens; filaments filiform; anthers lin- 

 ear, i" long; head of fruit nearly an inch broad, the 

 follicles 4" long, each tipped with a straight sub- 

 ulate beak of one-fourth its length. 



In swamps, New Hampshire to Delaware, west 

 to Michigan. Also in the northern Rocky Moun- 

 tains, where a white-flowered form (yar. albi flows A. 

 Gray, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 31: 241) is found at high 

 altitudes, and in Washington and British Columbia. 

 May-July. 



4. HELLEBORUS L. Sp. PI. 557. 1753. 



Erect perennial herbs, with large palmately divided leaves, the basal long-petioled, the 

 upper sessile and sometimes reduced to bracts. Flowers large, white, greenish or yellowish. 

 Sepals 5, broad, petaloid, mainly persistent. Petals small, unguiculate, tubular. Stamens 

 oo . Carpels generally few, sessile, in fruit forming several-seeded capsules, which are dehis- 

 cent at the apex at maturity. [The classical name for H, orientalis ; derivation unknown. ] 



A genus of coarse herbs, comprising about 10 species, natives of Europe and western Asia. 



