Actiea. RANUNCULACE^E. 55 



Bolruphis serpentaria, Raf. Med. Fl. i. 85, t. 16. B. ac.teoides, Fiseh. & Meyer, 1. c. 21.— 

 Open woods, &c., in rich soil, S. New England and Upper Canada to Wi«conHin, and sontli 

 to Mi.ssouri, Tennessee, and Georgia; ^. early Huinnier. Foliage ruua to the following 

 extreme varieties or monstrosities : — 



Var. COrdifolia, (^kay. Leaflets only abcjut y, ample (4 to 6 or even 10 inches hmg), 

 at least the terminal ones cordate at base and 3-lobed. — Gray in Patterson, Cliecklist, ed. 

 1892, 1. C. cordifolia, I'ursh, Fl. ii. 373 (e.\cl. syn.) ; Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 2009; Torr. & Gray, 

 1. c. (wliere char, of seeds, &c. must belong to C. Americanu) ; Gray, Am. Jour. Sci. xlii. 47. 

 AcUvu curdifulia, DC. Sy.st. i. 383. — Damp \soods, mountains of N. Carolina.* 



Var. dissecta, Gray. Leaves irregularly pinnately decompnund ; leaflets compara- 

 tively small, oblong or lanceolate, laciniate or incised. — Man. ed. 6, 47. — Ccutreville, 

 Delaware, ^1. Commons. 



18. ACT^A, L. Baneberky, also callea Cohosh. ('Aktcu, Greek, 

 Acteea, Latiu name of the Elder, trausferred by Liniia:u8.) — Pereuuial herli.>< (oi 

 temperate parts of northeru hemisphere), several forms almost of one species ; 

 glabrous or soou glabrate ; with simple 1-2-leaved stems from short aud braneh- 

 iug rootstock, terminated by a short and simple or sometimes forked raceme (aud 

 sometimes a second one) of small white flowers, produced in spriug : leaves 

 ample, ternately or quinately decompound : leaflets commonly ovate or oblong, 

 incised or some 2-3-cleft, and irregularly dentate : berries ripening late in sum- 

 mer, mostly black in the Old World, red or white in the New. — Gen. no. 427 ; 

 Gray, Gen. 111. i. 49, t. 19. 



A. spicata, L. Raceme at first ovate or corymbiforra : petals usually rhombicsp.-\tulat« : 

 berries slender-pedicelled, oval, at maturity black. (Eu., Asia.) 



Var. rubra, Ait. Berries cherry-red, or sometimes white, in a barely oblong raceme. 

 — Kew. ii. 221 ; Michx. Fl. i. 308. A. Aviericutia, var. rubra, Pursli, Fl. ii. 366. .1. brachi/- 

 petala, var. rubra, DC. Sy.st. i. 38.5. A. rubra, Willd. Enum. 561 ; Bigel Fl. Bost. ed. "2, 211 ; 

 Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 27; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 35; Gray, Gen. 111. i. 50, t. 19. A. lonf/ijtes, 

 Spach, Hist. Veg. vii. 388. — Woods, Newfoundland to the Saskatchewan district, and liocky 

 JNIountains, and south to Pennsylvania, Missouri, &c. 



Var. arglita, Torr. Berries either red or white : raceme elongating in age : leaflets 

 more dee]jly incised, sometimes more sharply dentate: stem disposed to l)e taller. — I'acif. 

 R. Rep. iv. 63; AVats. Bot. King Exp. 12; Brew. & Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 12. /l.(ir7u/a,Nutt. 

 in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 35. A. rubra, var. arguta, Lawson, Rev. Canad. Ranunc 84. — 

 Rocky Mountains, Montana to coast of Brit. Columbia, California, and New Mexico, eaft- 

 wardly passing into the preceding form. (N. Asia.) 



A.* viridiflora, Greene. Stems several from the same root : flowers even during anthesis 

 in a narrow oblong spike : pedicels during anthesis a line or two, at fruiting tliree lines 

 long, reddi.sh, much more slender than in the next : bractlets a third to half tlie length 

 of the pedicels: petals oblong-lanceolate: stamens greenish. ^:- Tittoni.a, ii. 109. — San 

 Francisco Mountains, Arizona, Rushy, Greene. 



A. alba, Mill. Raceme from the first oblong, hardly elongating: leaflets more incised an<i 

 sharply dentate : petals more like staminodes, narrow and usually truncate : pedicels short 

 and stout, in fruit as thick as the axis of the raceme, becoming red: lierries glnl)oso-oval, 

 bright white (but rarely bv hybridization, purplish red). — Diet. ed. 8. no. 2; Eaton, Man. 

 ed. 2, 1818, 123 ; Bigel. Fl.Bost. ed. 2. 211 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 27 ; Torr. & Gray. 1. c. , 

 Gray, Man. ed. 5, 47 ; Law.'^on, 1. c 83; Lloyd Bro.«. Am. Drugs & Med. i. t. 18, f. 7.3-75. 

 78. A. spicata, var. alba, L. Spec. i. 504 ; Michx. 1. c. -4. Amtrirann, var. alba. I'ursh. 1. r. 

 A. brachi/petala, DC. Syst. i. 385, excl. var. rubra &. var. ccemlea (the latter is Cauloj>hi)llum). 



1 Also reported from near Knoxville, Tenn., by Kearney, Bull. Torr. Club, xx. 2.'^, who sUte« 

 that it flowers considerably later in the season than tiie typical fonn. 



