6 RANUKCULACE^E. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



6. A. nemordsa, L. (WIND-FLOWER. WOOD ANEMONE.) Low, 

 smooth ; stem perfectly simple ; flower single on a naked peduncle ; leaves of the 

 involucre 3, long-petioled, 3-divided, toothed and cut ; the lateral divisions often 

 (var. QUINQUEFOLIA) 2-parted; radical leaf single; sepals 4-7, oval, white, 

 sometimes tinged with purple outside; carpels only 15-20, oblong, with a 

 hooked beak. Margin of woods. April, May. A delicate and pretty vernal 

 species ; the spreading flower 1' broad. (Eu.) 



5. HEP A TIC A, Dill. LIVER-LEAF. HEPATICA. 



Involucre simple and 3-leaved, very close to the flower, so as to resemble a 

 calyx ; otherwise as in Anemone (of which this genus may be viewed as only a 

 section). Leaves all radical, heart-shaped and 3-lobed, thickish and persistent 

 through the winter, the new ones appearing later than the flowers. Flowers 

 single, on hairy scapes. (Name from a fancied resemblance to the liver in the 

 shape of the leaves.) 



1. H. trilolm, Chaix. (ROUND-LOBED HEPATICA.) Leaves with 3 

 ovate obtuse or rounded lobes ; those of the involucre also obtuse. Woods; 

 common ; flowering soon after the snow leaves the ground in spring. Sepals 

 6-9, blue, purplish, or nearly white. Achenia several, in a small loose head, 

 ovate-oblong, pointed, hairy. Lobes of the leaves usually very obtuse, or 

 rounded. (Eu.) 



2. H. acutiloba, DC. (SHARP-LOBED HEPATICA.) Leaves with 3 

 ovate and pointed lobes, or sometimes 5-lobed ; those of the involucre acute or 

 acutish. Woods, Vermont and New York to Wisconsin. Sepals 7-12, pale 

 purple, pink, or nearly white. Perhaps runs into No. 1. 



6. THAL,iCTRin!I, Tourn. MEADOW-RUE. 



Sepals 4 or more, petal-like or greenish. Petals none. Achenia 4-15, tipped 

 by the stigma or short style, grooved or ribbed, or else inflated. Seed suspend- 

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

 leaflets stalked. Flowers in corymbs or panicles, often polygamous. (Deriva- 

 tion obscure.) 



* Stem-leaves forming an involucre at the summit, as in Anemone : root tuberous- 



thickened and clustered : flowers perfect : fruits sessile, grooved. 

 1. T, sinemoiioiies, Michx. (RUE-ANEMONE.) Low; root-leaves 

 twice or thrice 3-divided ; the leaflets and the long-stalked leaflets of the invo- 

 lucre obtusely 3-lobed at the apex ; flowers few in a simple umbel. (Anemone 

 thalictroides, L., Bigd.) Woods: common. April, May. A pretty plant, 

 more like Anemone than Thalictrum in aspect. The stem bears 2 or 3 leaves 

 at the very summit, like those from the root, but without the common petiole, 

 so that they seem like a whorl of long-stalked simple leaves. Sepals 7-10, 

 half an inch long, not falling off before the stamens, white, or tinged with pink. 

 Pistils several in a little head, tipped with a flat stigma. 



* * Stem-leaves scattered, 3-4 times compound: root flbrous: flowers dioxious or 



