VOL. II.] 



CROWFOOT FAMILY 



i. Xanthorrhiza apiifolia L/Her. 

 Shrub Yellow-root. (Fig. 1553.) 



Xanthorrhiza apiifolia L'Her. Stirp. Nov. 79. 



1784. 

 Xanthorrhiza simplicissima Marsh. Arb. Amer. 



168. 1785. 



Glabrate, i-2 high, the bark and long 

 roots yellow and bitter. I/eaves pinnate or 

 sometimes bipinnate, clustered at the sum- 

 mit of the short stem, the blade 5 / -6 / long, 

 slender petioled; leaflets 5, thin, 1'-$' long, 

 incisely toothed, cleft or divided, sessile, 

 ovate or oblong, acute, cuneate, shining; 

 branches of the raceme or panicle slender, 

 drooping, 2 / ~3 / long; flowers about 2" broad, 

 pedicelled, solitary or 2-3 together, brown- 

 ish-purple; sepals ovate, acute; follicles 4-8, 

 inflated, light yellow, i-seeded, diverging, 

 curved at the apex, minutely beaked. 



In woods, southwestern New York to Florida. 

 Also called Yellow -wood. The lowest leaves are 

 sometimes 3-foliolate. April-May. 



9. ACTAEA I,. Sp. PI. 504. 1753. 



Erect perennial herbs, with large ternately compound leaves, and small white flowers 

 in terminal racemes. Sepals 3-5, petaloid. Petals 4-10, small, spatulate or narrow, clawed. 

 Stamens numerous. Ovary i, many-ovuled, forming in fruit a large somewhat poisonous 

 berry; stigma broad, sessile. [An ancient name of the elder.] 



About 4 known species, natives of the north temperate zone. Besides the following another 

 occurs in the western United States. 



Pedicels slender; berries red. I. A. rubra. 



Pedicels stout; berries white. 2. A. alba. 



x. Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd. Red 

 Baneberry. (Fig. 1554.) 



Actaea spicata var. rubra Ait. Hort, Kew. 2: 

 221. 1789. 



Actaea rubra Willd. Enurn. 561. 1809. 



Erect, bushy, i-2 high, pubescent or 

 glabrate. Leaves petioled, or the upper 

 sessile, ternate, the divisions pinnate with 

 the lower ultimate leaflets sometimes 

 again compound; leaflets ovate or the ter- 

 minal one obovate, toothed or somewhat 

 cleft, the teeth mainly rounded or mucro- 

 nate, oracutish; raceme ovoid; petals spat- 

 ulate, shorter than the stamens; pedicels 

 mainly slender, 5 // -7 // long; berries red, 

 oval, 5 // -6 // long, many-seeded. 



In woods, Nova Scotia to New Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania, west to the Rocky Mountains. 

 Most abundant northward. April-June. A. 

 spicata L-, of Europe, has purplish-black ber- 

 ries and has not been observed in America. 

 This and the following species are called 

 also Cohosh, Herb-Christopher, and Rattle- 

 snake Herb. 



I 



Actaea rubra arguta (Nutt. ) Greene, Pitt. 2: 108. 1890. 

 Actaea arguta Nutt. ; T. & G. Fl. N. A. i: 35. 1838. 



Plant larger, the leaflets more incised. Nebraska to British Columbia and California. 



Actaea rubra dissecta Britton. 

 Leaflets all deeply incised, the lower compound or decompound. Lincoln Co., Ontario. 



