ranunculacEjE. 49 



Plate 19. 

 ACTiEA, L. 



Calyx 3 - 5-sepalus, petaloideus, caducus. Petala seu 

 staminodia 4-10, plana, integerrima, spathulata. Ovarium 

 unicum, baccatum, polyspermum. Semina horizontalia. — 

 Folia bi - tritematisecta. Racemus brevis. 



Act.s:a, Linn. Gaertn. Fr. t. 114. Fisch. & Meyer, Ind. Petrop. 1835. 



p. 20. Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1. p. 35. Endl. Gen. 4799. 

 Actjea, Sect. Christophoriana, DC. Syst. 1. p. 384. « 



Christophoriana, Tourn. Inst. p. 299, t. 154. 



Banebcrry. 



Calyx of 3 to 5 ovate and concave petaloid sepals, imbri- 

 cated in aestivation, regular, caducous. Petals 4 to 10, 

 shorter and much smaller than the sepals, flat, spatulate c* 

 oblong, more or less unguiculate, hypogynous. Stamens 

 indefinite, hypogynous : filaments filiform : anthers in- 

 nate, slightly introrse, the oval cells separated by a narrow 

 comiective, opening longitudinally. Pistil single, sessile : 

 ovary ovoid-oblong, grooved at the ventral suture, one-cell- 

 ed, many-ovnled : stigma sessile, depressed-dilated, some- 

 what two-lobed. Ovules very numerous, horizontal, in two 

 series, occupying the whole length of the ventral suture, 

 anatropous ; the raphes collateral. 



Fruit a many-seeded oval berry, usually with a groove 

 at the ventral suture. Seeds very numerous, horizontal, 

 flat (depressed), and somewhat semicircular, closely packed 

 in two series, filling the cell ; the thickish and coriaceous 

 testa smooth and even. Embryo minute, next the hilum, at 

 the base of the fleshy albumen, cordate. 



Herbs, with perennial matted roots, and usually tuberous 

 and knotty rootstocks, sending up in spring mostly simple 

 stems, bearing one or two alternate bi - triternately-com- 

 pound leaves, and an oblong or ovoid terminal raceme of 



