44 PAPAVERACEiB. Sangbinaria. 



about 2 inches wide, but later in tlie season more than twice that width ; the outline cordate- 

 reniform, sinuately 5-7 lobcd about half way to the base, the lobes entire or repandly 

 toothed. Scape 3-8 inches long, often of a purplish color. Flower 1 -1^ inch in diameter. 

 Sepals ovate-oblong, falling very early. Petals usually about 8, oblong, narrowed at the base. 

 Stamens unequal, one-half or one-third the length of the petals : anthers linear, innate, in- 

 trorse. Stigmas sessile, thick, glandularly pubescent. Capsule about an inch long, tapering 

 to a sharp point. 



Common in fertile woods, sometimes beginning to flower towards the end of March. Fr. 

 June. 



The root or rhizoma has long been an officinal article, and is in consider.iblc repute for its 

 emetic, cathartic and expectorant qualities. Its active principle is a peculiar vegetable alkali 

 discovered by the late Professor Dana, and named Sanguinarina. It is remarkable for form- 

 ing orange-red salts. See Ann. lye. N. York, vol. 1, and Wood ^ Bache's U. S. Dispens. 

 p. 579. 



2. CHELTDONIUM, Linn.; Endl. gen. 4819. eELAXDi.\B. 



[Named from chclidon, a swallow ; probably because the plant begins to flower about the time this bird arrives] 



Calyx of 2 sepals. Corolla of 4 petals arranged in a cruciate manner. Stamens rather 

 numerous. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule pod-shaped, linear, 2-valved ; valves dehiscing from 

 the base to the apex. Seeds numerous, furnished with a glandular cristate raphe. — Per- 

 ennial herbs, with a safiFron-colored acrid and fetid juice. Leaves pinnately divided. 

 Flowers middle-sized, yellow. 



1. Chelidomum m.\jus, Linn^ Common Celandine. 



Peduncles many-flowered ; pedicels somewhat umbellate; leaves glaucous ; the segments 

 ovate, crenately incised or lobed ; terminal one cuneiform-obovate ; capsules torulose. — Eng. 

 hot. t. 1531 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 365 ; Bigel. fl. Best. p. 210; DC, prodr. \.p. 123 ; Dar- 

 lingt.fl. Cest. 317; Torr. <^ Gr.fl. N. Am. I. p. 62. 



Root fusiform. Stem 1-2 feet high, branching from near the base, somewhat hairy. 

 Leaves large, pale green, with 5-7 segments. Peduncles axillan,', 2-4 inches long, bear- 

 ing at the summit 3-7 umbellate flowers, the pedicels of which are nearly an inch in length, 

 and surrounded by an involucre at the base. Petals 4-5 lines long, and with the sepals 

 and stamens very deciduous. Capsule about an inch long. 



A common plant along fences and in waste places ; doubtless introduced from Europe. It 

 flowers from the beginning of May to October. The juice is a popular application to warts, 

 tetters, etc., and is sometimes employed internally as a purgative and diuretic. See Wood 

 ^ Bache's U. S. Dispens. app. 1076. 



