256 SAXIGRAGACEiE. Hetjchera. 



2. HEUCHERA. Linn. ; R. Brown in Richards, app. to Frankl. nar, ed. 2. p. 52. t. 29 ; 



Endl. gen. 4639. ALUM-ROOT. 



[ Named in honor of John Henry de Hedchek, a German botanist of the las£ century.] 



Calyx campanulate, coherent with the ovary, 5-cleft, sometimes unequal ; the segments obtuse. 

 Petals 5, small, entire. Stamens 5, inserted with the petals into the throat of the calyx. 

 Styles 2. Capsule 1-celled, with 2 parietal placentas, many-seeded, 2-beaked, opening 

 between the beaks. Seeds horizontal, muricate or hispid. — Perennial, mostly stemless 

 plants. Radical leaves on long petioles, roundish-cordate, lobed and crenate or incised ; 

 cauline ones, when present, alternate. Stipules adnate to the base of the petiole, free above. 

 Flowers in compound cymose panicles. 



1. Heuchera Americana, Linn. Common Alum-root. 



Roughish and somewhat viscidly pubescent ; scape naked ; leaves roundish-cordate, 7-9- 

 lobed ; the lobes very short and rounded, crenate-dentate, with short and broad mucronate 

 teeth ; panicle elongated, loose, many-flowered ; the pedicels divaricate ; petals spatulate, 

 about the length of the calyx-segments ; stamens at length much exserted. — Linn. sp. 1 . 

 p. 226; Ell. sk. 1. p. 337; Torr.fi. \.p. 280; Bart. veg. mat. med. t. 40; Bigel.fi. Bost. 

 p. 106 ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 51 ; Beck, bat. p. 139 ; Darlingt. fi. Cest. p. 175 ; Terr. <^- Gr. 

 fi. N. Am. 1. p. 577. H. Cortusa, Michx. fi. 1. p. 171. H. viscida, Pursh, fi. 1. p. 187. 



Rhizoma thick and astringent. Leaves ail radical, 3-4 inches in diameter, deeply cordate, 

 palmately veined, strigosely pubescent on both sides : petioles 3-10 inches long. Scape 

 erect, 2-4 feet high, very rarely with one or two small leaves. Panicle at first contracted, 

 finally nearly a foot in length, with linear bracts at the base of the divisions. Calyx turbinate, 

 10-striate, with ovate-obtuse segments, glandularly pubescent. Petals small, purplish or 

 nearly white. Stamens 2-3 times as long as the petals : anthers orange-yellow. Capsule 

 ovoid, acuminate, opening between the beaks. Seeds oblong, nearly black. 



Shady rocky woods, and banks of rivers ; common. May - June. The root or rhizoma 

 is a powerful astringent. See Wood cj- Backers U. S. Dispens. p. 349. 



3. MITELLA. Town.; Lam. ill. t. 373 ; Torr. ^ Gr. fi. N. Am. 1. p. 585. 



FALSE SANICLE. BISHOP'S CAP. 



[A diminutive of mitra, a mitre or cap; so named from the form of the seed-vessel.] 



Calyx campanulate, 5-cIeft, adherent to the ovary at the base : a;stivation valvatc. Petals 5, 

 pinnatifid (rarely 3-cleft). Stamens 10 or 5, included. Styles 2, short, diverging. Capsule 

 one-celled ; the placentae parietal or at the base, many-seeded. Seeds smooth and shining. 

 — Perennial herbs, with mostly radical, cordate, lobed or crenate leaves. Scapes slender. 

 Flowers small, in a simple spiked raceme. 



