88 BERBERIDACF.vE. 



runted by a single large (white) flower, nodding on a short 

 peduncle. Cauline leaves excentrically peltate, palmately 

 5 — 9-ribbed and deeply cleft : the lobes incised and toothed. 



Etymology. Name formed of 7ro0s , a foot, and <f)v\\ov, leaf; from a 

 fancied resemblance of the leaves to the feet of a web-footed bird. 



Properties. The mawkish fruit of the May-Apple is edible, and is said 

 by Dr. Griffith to resemble that of Passiflora edulis in taste as well as in ap- 

 pearance : the herbage is poisonous : the root is a drastic cathartic. 



Geographical Distribution. Our species (from which the above de- 

 tailed character is drawn) is indigenous nearly throughout the United States : 

 and there is another (P. hexandrum) in the mountains of Nepaul. 



Note. The arillus was detected by Prof. Torrey several years ago, and 

 is noticed in his elaborate Flora of the Slate of New York, 1. p. 35. The 

 floral envelopes are first correctly described in my Ma/ma! of the Botany of 

 the Northern States, in the Errata, p. 4. A singular discrepancy in respect 

 to the size and shape of the embryo is shown on the annexed plate. As the 

 fruit does not ripen in Eastern New England, we have been unable to mul- 

 tiply observations upon this point. 



PLATE 35. Podophyllum peltatum, Linn.; — one leaf cut away. 



1. Early flower-bud, the green bractlets expanded ; natural size. 



2. Flower-bud just before expansion, after the bractlets have fallen ; the 



sepals separating from the base. 



3. Diagram of the whole floral envelopes in the bud : the three outermost 



lines represent the bractlets ; the six inner and wavy ones, the petals. 



4. 5, 6. Stamens enlarged ; the latter with the anther dehiscent. 



7. Cross-section of the last. 



8. Pistil, enlarged. 



9. Vertical section of the same, through the placenta. 



10. Same, with the back cut away ; and 1 1, cross-section in the same position. 

 10. An ovule, magnified. 

 PLATE 36. Fruit with dissections ; natural size. 



1. Ripe fruit : 2, a transverse section ; and 3, a vertical section. 



4. The pericarp cut away, showing the surface of the arillate mass. 



5. Same, with the arilli and placenta transversely divided. 



6. Magnified arillus divided, to show the included seed. 



7. Magnified seed, taken from a New Jersey specimen. 



8. Same, divided, showing the minute embryo. 



9. This cordate embryo detached and more magnified. 



10, 11. Magnified seed and its section, from Philadelphian specimens. 

 12. This much larger and longer embryo detached, and more magnified. 



