RANUNCULACE^. (CUOWFOUT FAMILY.) ;> 



l-flo'%'ered : flowers white: carpels roundish-oval. — Alpiuc. lu Colorado at 

 13,000 feet altitude, aud theuce through British America. 



3. THALICTRUM, L. Mkai»ow-Uce. 



Sepals 4 to 7, either greenish or petal-like. Pistils 4 to 15. — Perennial 

 herl)s with leaves 2 or 3 times ternately compound, the lealieis sUilk*?*!. 

 Flowers in corymhs or pauicles. The dicecious species are easily n'iogni/ed 

 by coml)iniug that character with the much compounded leaves, and all of ..ur 

 species can be distinguished from Anemone by their alternate leuvcd aud 

 inconspicuous flowers. 



* Flowers perfect. 



1. T. alpinum, L. St«m simple, 2 to 8 inches hiyh, .slightly pnl)csrent : 

 lem^cs mostiy radical ; leaflets roundish, about \ inch long, .xt)mowhut IoIhmJ, 

 crenately toothed : flowers noJdin;/ in a simple raceme : stigmas thick aud 

 pubescent: carpels ocate, sessile. — Colorado and northward throughout Briti.xh 

 America. 



2. T. sparsiflorum, Turcz. Stem l to 3 fot hi'jh: upjier leaves sessile: 

 flowers on long pedicels in a loose panicle : filaments clavaie : carpels strongly 

 compressed, semi-ohovate, short-stipitate, thrice shorter than the persistent style. 

 — Subalpine. Colorado aud far northward : also in California. 



* * Flowers diff.cious, 



3. T. Cornuti, L. Stem 2 to A feet high: stem-leaves sessile (without 

 general petiole) or nearly so ; leaflets roundish or oblong and more or less 

 3-lobed, pale anil usually minutely pubescent beneath, the margin mitstiif 

 revolute and the veining conspicuous: panicles co7njiound : flowers white, 

 greenish, and purplish : filaments thickened upwards.— Possibly includes T, 

 purpurnscens, L. : Colorado, and in the Atlantic States. 



4. T. Fendleriyllilgelm. ^oXh^v low and slender, occasionally somewhat 

 pubescent : leaves pctiolrd or the uppermost ses.sile ; leaflets usually sniall : 

 flowers in an open panicle : anthers sctoscly acuminate : akenes slightly glantlu- 

 lar-)»uberulent, oblong to ovate, acuminate, 2 or 3 lines long. — PI. KondL 5. 

 Colorado aud Now Mexico, and westward to Utah and Nevada 



f). T. OCCidentale, (^.ray. Like the la.st, but stouter, the leaflets largrr 

 and akenes few in a head (1 to 6), narrowly oblonj 3 or 4 lines long), and 

 narrowed at each end. — Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 372. From California to Wash- 

 ington, and extending into "Western Montana. 



4. MYOSURUS, L. Moi'sktaii. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, linear, on a slender claw with a ]»it at its summit. 

 Stamens ^> to 20.— Very small annual herbs, with a tuft of linear or spolulatc 

 entire radical leaves, and solitary flowers on simple srn|>«'s. The lonp slmdiT 

 spike of akenes and linear radical leaves give the plant the api>eamncc of a 

 diminutive ]tlnntain. 



L M. minimus, L. Scapes 2 to 6 inches high : leaves usually .shorter: 

 akenes blunt, on sl.nder sjdkes 1 or 2 inches long. — From California through 

 Colorado to the Ohio Valley. 



