172 THE CROWFOOT FAMlLV. 



runners. Perhaps it has something the same look as a very prosperous 

 buttercup. That it is a plant of the people might be presumed from the 

 number of its old English names. " May-blob," it is called, " water blob," 

 sometmies even " horse blob " and again it is extensively known as the 

 cowslip which is boiled and used as a vegetable. 



YELLOW PUCCOON. ORANGE ROOT. GOLDEN SEAL. 

 YELLOW INDIAN PAINT. 



Hydrastis Ca)iadt'nsis. 



Fhnvcrs : small; regular; solitary. Calyx: with lluce petal-like and early 

 falling sei)als. Pclals : none. Stamens : nunicrous. l^'ntit : a head of crimson 

 berries wiiich resembles a raspberry. Liun'ts : those from the base with long 

 petioles; reniform and palmately-divided into friim five to nine lobes, acute at 

 their apices and sharply serrate. Sttvi /eaves : two growing near its summit ; the 

 upper one subtending the flower, and they being covered on the upper side when 

 young with white hairs. Stem : about one foot high ; erect ; pubescent towards 

 the summit. Kootstock : yellow. 



So abundant is the foliage of the yellow puccoon and such a fine show- 

 ing does it make that it puts rather to shame the more insignificant bloom. 

 Through the oak barrens of middle Tennessee the plant crops up contin- 

 ually. There the people in the autumn go forth to gather its rootlets and 

 the rhizomes, which are known to them as having drastic properties. 



SHRUB YELLOW=ROOT. 



XanthorrJiiza apiifolia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Cro^i'foot. Reddisli purple. Scentless. Florida to Ne^v York. April, May. J'ruit.-June. 



FloToers : tiny; solitarv. or two or three together growing in drooping 

 axillarv racemes on slenderliranches Calyx : with five, ovate deciduous se])als. 

 Corolla: with five small two-lobed petals. Staviens : five to ten. Follicles: 

 vellowish green; one-sided; curved and conlainmg at maturity one seed. 

 'Leaves: with slender petioles, clustered at the summit of the stem ; pinnate or bi- 

 pinnate; the five leaflets, sessile, ovate, divided, cleft and toothed ; thm ; glabrous. 

 A shrub: one to two feet high with greyish bark, the stem wnhin being a bright 

 beautiful yellow. Roots: yellow; astringent. 



Of small shrubs there is hardly one more impressive throughout the 

 year than this one, although for beauty, it relies not at all on its wine-tinted 

 bloom. In its foliage rather lies its charm. This has a fern-like, graceful 

 look very suggestive of such cool woods and shaded banks as those where 

 it chooses to grow through the high Alleghany and Cumberland mountains. 

 In the spring it is effective, and even quite as handsome in the autumn when 



