Waldsteinia. ROSACEjE. 205 



slender, finally longer than the leaves, with a small leafy bract below the middle, and others 

 at the forks of the pedicels. Calyx a little pubescent ; the tube conical : segments lanceolate- 

 oblong, acute, sometimes with alternate minute bracteoles. Petals scarcely twice the length 

 of the calyx. Stamens numerous. Carpels minute. 



Woods ; rather common in the norlhern part of the State, and not rare in the western 

 counties, but not hitherto found in the valley of the Hudson south of Catskill. Fl. May - 

 June. Fr. July. 



Subtribe 2. Sanguisorbe^e, Torr. & Gr. Calyx-tube moistly indurated and contracted at the 

 mouth ; the segments valvule, or rarely imbricated in aestivation. Petals often wanting. 

 Stamens few or definite {rarely numerous). Carpels 1 - 2, or rarely 3-4, dry : styles 

 teMninal or lateral : stigma often plumose. Seeds suspended, very rarely ascending. 

 Radicle superior. — Herbs, or sometimes shrubby plants. Flowers sometimes polygamous 

 or dioBcious. 



8. SANGUISORBA. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 6373. great burnet. 



[Named from the Latin, sanguis, blood, and sordco, to absorb; the plant having been used to stop bleeding.] 



Flowers perfect. Tube of the calyx quadrangular, with 3 bracteoles at the base ; the limb 

 4-parted. Petals none. Stainens 4, opposite the calyx-segments : filaments often dilated 

 upwards. Ovary solitary : style filiform, many-cleft or pencil-form. Achenium dry, in- 

 cluded in the hardened 4-winged calyx-tube. Seed suspended. — Perennial, rarely annual 

 herbs, with unequally pinnate leaves and foliaceous persistent stipules ; tiie leaflets petiolu- 

 late, serrate or pinnatifid. Flowers in dense ovoid or cylindrical spikes. 



1. Sanguisorba Canadensis, Linn. American Great Burnet. 



Perennial ; spikes finally cylindrical and much elongated ; stamens much longer than the 

 calyx ; filaments flattened and dilated upwards ; leaflets ovate or oblong, serrate, cordate. — 

 Willd. sp. 1. ;;. 654 ; Michx. fl.\. p.lOO; Pursh,fl. 1. j9. 116; Ell. sk. 1. p. 206 ; Torr. 

 fl. l.p. 176 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 62 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 594 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 198 ; 

 Beck, bot. p. 115 ; Darlingt.fl. Cest. p. 106 ; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. 1. p. 429. S. media, 

 Linn. ; DC. I. c. ; Hook. I. c. 



Stem 2-4 feet high, smooth, with a few erect branches. Leaflets in numerous pairs, 

 1-2 inches long, acutely serrate : petioles long, sheathing at the base. Stipules often lunate 

 or falrate, sharply serrate, adhering to ihc petiole ; the lower ones sometimes wanting. Spikes 

 at first elliptical, at length cylindrical, 3-6 inches long ; the flowers much crowded and 

 sessile, each with 3 small persistent bracts at the base. Calyx yellowish- or greenish-white ; 

 the segments ovate, with a callous tip. Filaments very long, while, flattened and dilated 



