CROWFOOT FAMILY. Ranunculaceae. 



A tall spreading, slender-stemmed vvood- 

 5nakeroot ^^^^ plant, with fuzzy, feathery white 



Cimicifuga flowers borne in a 6-20 inches long, wand- 

 racemosa like cluster, having a disagreeable foetid 



^*^'*^ odor, and compound, sharply toothed, 



u y light green leaves. The 4-8 petals are 



stamenlike, and the stamens are numerous. The flower 

 is assisted in fertilization by the green flesh-flies. Fruit 

 berrylike and purplish. 3-8 feet high. Woods, Me., 

 south to Ga., and west to Minn, and Mo. 



A bushy w^oodland plant with compound 

 Actcea spicata ^~^ parted leaves, the leaflets tootlied and 

 var. rubra lobed, the lower end-leaflets sometimes 



White again compound. The tiny white, perfect 



April-June flowers with 4-10 exceedingly narrow pet- 

 als and numerous stamens ; the 4-5 sepals petallike and 

 falling when the flower blooms. Cross-fertilized by the 

 small bees, especially of the species Halictus. The stig- 

 mas mature before the anthers are open, thus securing 

 cross-fertilization. Fruit a thick cluster of coral red, 

 oval berries borne upon slender stems. 1-3 feet high. 

 Woods, from Me., southwest to N, J. and Pa., and west. 



A similar species with the same distribu- 

 Baneberry tion. The leaflets are more deeply cut, 



Act(pa alba the teeth are sharper, and the lobes are 

 White acute. The narrow, stamenlike petals are 



Late April- blunt at the tip, and shorter than the sta- 

 mens. Fruit a china white berry with 

 a conspicuous purple-black eye ; the stems are thick and 

 fleshy, and usually red. Forms with slender-stemmed 

 white berries, and fleshy-stemmed red berries occasion- 

 ally occur, but these are considered hybrids (Gray's 

 Manual, 6th edition). The ActcBas are not honey flow- 

 ers and the smaller bees (Halictus) visit them for pollen. 



A stocky yellow-rooted perennial, send- 

 Orangeroot , , *^ , i i 



Hydrastis ^^g up in sprmg a smgle clear green, 



Canadensis round, veiny root-leaf, lobed and toothed, 

 Greenish and a hairy stem terminated by two small 



^^^^^ leaves, from the uppermost one of which 



springs an insignificant green- white 

 flower scarcely ^ inch broad, with numerous stamens, 

 150 



