104 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Black Snakeroot; Black Cohosh 



Ciiuicifiiga niccmosa (Linnaeus) Nuttall 



Plate c,4 



Stems tall and slender, 3 to 8 feet high, leafy above, rootstock thick 

 and perennial. Leaves ternate with pinnate divisions; leaflets ovate or 

 oblong, the tenninal ones usually obovatc, pointed at the apex, truncate 

 or narrowed at the base, margins coarsely toothed, cleft or divided, rather 

 thick texture, smooth or nearly so. Flowers white, with a somewhat 

 fetid odor, in tall, terminal, simple or compound racemes, 6 to 30 inches 

 long, each flower about one-half of an inch broad; petals four to eight, 

 two-cleft; stamens very numerous; pistils one or two, sessile. Fruiting 

 follicles oval, about one-fourth of an inch long, minutely beaked. 



In woods and shaded rocky places, Maine and Ontario to Wisconsin, 

 south to Georgia and Missouri. Flowering in July and August. 



Wild Columbine; Rock Bells 



Aqiiilegia cdiiadciisis Linnaeus 



Plate 6.5 



Erect and brandling, glabrous or somewhat pubescent, i to 2 feet 

 high, from a perennial root. Leaves ternately decompound, the lower and 

 basal leaves slender-petioled , 4 to 8 inches broad, the ultimate leaflets 

 I to 2 inches broad, sessile or short stalked, obovatc, obtuse, cuneate, 

 obtusely lobed and toothed, pale beneath; leaves of the upper part of the 

 stem lobed or divided. Flowers nodding, i to 2 inches long, scarlet or 

 rarely white or yellow; sepals five, regular, petaloid; petals concave, 

 produced backward between the sepals into hollow, nearly straight spurs, 

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, thickened at the end ; stamens 

 numerous, with the styles long exserted. Fruit erect, consisting of five 

 united carpels with slightly spreading filiform beaks. 



In rocky woodlands and clearings. Nova Scotia to the Northwest 

 Territory', south to Florida and Texas. Flowering from the latter part of 

 April until June. 



