ranunculace.e. 47 



Plate 18. 

 HYDRASTIS, jL. 



Calyx 3-sepalus, petaloideus, caducissimvis. Petala nulla. 

 Ovaria plurima, 2-ovulata, in capitulum congesta ; fructu 

 baccata rubiformi. — Caulis uniflorus, e rhizomate flavo, di - 

 triphyllus ; foliis palmatifidis. 



Hydrastis, Linn. Gen. 704. DC. Syst. 1. p. 217. Barton, Veg. Mat. 



Med. 2. t. 26. Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3019, 3232 Torr. & Gray, 



Fl. l.p. 40. Endl. Gen. 4777. 

 Wakneria, Mill. Ic. 2. p. 190. t. 285. 



Yellow Puccoon. Orange-root. 



Calyx of 3 thin and membranaceous ovate sepals, im- 

 bricated in aestivation, greenish-white, caducous when the 

 flower opens. Petals none. Stamens indefinite, hypogy- 

 nous : filaments filiform, somewhat thickened upwards : 

 anthers innate, or slightly extrorse ; the oblong cells sepa- 

 rated by a thickish connective, opening longitudinally. Pis- 

 tils 12 to 20, capitate and sessile on the short receptacle : 

 ovary ovate, fleshy, one-celled, two-ovuled : style short and 

 thick : stigma bilamellate, terminal. Ovules at first collat- 

 eral, borne on the middle of the ventral suture, ascending, 

 between anatropous and amphitropous. 



Fruit consisting of the baccate matured ovaries densely 

 capitate-imbricated on the oblong receptacle, bright crimson, 

 and resembling a raspberry. Seeds single or two (one 

 above the other) in each carpel, broadly obovate, turgid, in- 

 serted by a linear hilum ; the crustaceous testa smooth and 

 •shining. Albumen fleshy and oily. Embryo minute, next 

 the micropyle : radicle inferior (pointing to the base of the 

 fruit). 



Herb with a thick, knotty rhizoma (imbued with a yel- 

 low juice), sending up in early spring a long-petiolcd leaf 

 and a simple stem, which is naked below, alternately two- 



