54 RANUNCULACEAE. 



i. Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb. Gold-thread. (Fig. 1551.) 



[VOL. II. 



Hellfborus trifolius L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 784. 1762. 

 Coptis trifolia Salisb. Trans. Linn. Soc. 8: 305. 



1803. 

 Isopyrum trifolium Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, 18: 



265. 1891. 



Tufted, glabrous, 3 7 -6 x high from a slender 

 or filiform yellow bitter rootstock. Leaves all 

 basal, long-petioled, the blade reniform, I'-a' 

 broad,3-divided; petioles very slender; segments 

 broadly obovate, cuneate, obtuse, prominently 

 veined, crenate or slightly lobed, dark green 

 and shining above, paler beneath, the teeth mu- 

 cronate; scape i-flowered, slender; sepals oblong, 

 obtuse; petals small, club-shaped; follicles 3-7, 

 about 3" long, borne on stipes of about their 

 own length, spreading, tipped with a beak i"- 

 i#" long. 



In damp mossy woods, and bogs, Newfoundland 

 to Maryland, west to Minnesota, British Columbia 

 and Alaska. Leaves evergreen. Ascends to 3500 

 ft. in the Adirondacks. Called also Canker-root. 

 May-Aug. 



7. ISOPYRUM I,. Sp. PL 557- '753- 



Slender glabrous herbs, with ternately decompound leaves, and solitary or panicled 

 white flowers. Sepals 5-9, petaloid, deciduous. Petals 5, nectariform or none. Stamens 

 numerous. Carpels 2-20, sessile (stalked in a western species), several-ovuled, forming a 

 head of follicles in fruit. [Old Greek name for some Fumaria.] 



A genus of about 15 species, natives of the north temperate zone. Besides the following, there 

 are 3 other North American species, natives of the Pacific Coast. 



i. Isopyrum biternatum (Raf.)T. &G. 

 False Rue Anemone. (Fig. 1552.) 



Encmion bitematum Raf. Journ. Phys. 91: 70. 



1820. 

 Isopyrum biternatum T. & G. Fl. N. A. i: 660. 



1840. 



Slender, erect, paniculately branching above; 

 roots fibrous and sometimes tuberiferous. Basal 

 leaves long-petioled, biternate, thin, the ulti- 

 mate segments broadly obovate, obtuse, lobed or 

 divided; upper ones similar but sessile or short* 

 petioled; flowers several, terminal and axillary, 

 white, 5"-9" broad; sepals 5, oblong or some- 

 what obovate, obtuse; petals none; stamens 

 many; filaments slender, thickened above; car- 

 pels few; follicles widely spreading, ovate, 2" 

 long, several -seeded, tipped with a beak nearly 

 one-half their length. 



In moist woods and thickets, Ontario to Minne- 

 sota, south to Florida and Texas. May. 



8. XANTHORRHIZA L/Her. Stirp. Nov. 79. 1784. 



Low shrubby plants, with pinnate or bipinuate leaves, and small compoundly racemose 

 flowers. Sepals 5, petaloid, deciduous. Petals 5, smaller than the sepals, unguiculate, con- 

 cave, 2-lobed. Stamens 5 or 10. Carpels 5-10, sessile, 2-ovuled, forming i-seeded follicles 

 at maturity by the suppression of one of the ovules. [Greek, yellow root.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



