230 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



tbe great lakes ; its wood is white, and prized for pump 

 logs, wooden bowls, and a variety of other purposes. Other 

 species of the genus, as the Umbrella-trees (Jf. Umbrella, 

 M. mttCTophylla), Sweet Bay (Jf. glauoa), etc., are planted 

 for ornament wherever they can endure the winters. - The 

 Tulip-tree, or Yellow Poplar (JLiriodendron Tulipifera), is 

 a grand forest tree of the Eastern United States, attaining 

 at times a height of one hundred and forty feet, and a 

 diameter of nine feet ; it furnishes a light, yellowish wood, 

 used very extensively in cabinet-making, and a variety of 

 other purposes. It is much prized as an ornamental tree 

 for parks, or where sufficient space permits it to assume a 

 beautiful and regularly conical form ; the tulip-like flower, 

 as well as the foliage, is very handsome. 



32. Ranunculaceae. The Crowfoot family. Herbs, 

 rarely shrubs. Leaves generally alternate or radical. 

 Sepals and petals each five; 

 stamens many, pistils gener- 

 ally many, not united. Species 

 about five hundred, many of 

 which were formerly considered 

 medicinal, yet but few are used 

 to-day. Wolfsbane, called also 

 Monkshood {Aeonitum Napel- 

 his), of Europe furnishes the 

 drug Aconite. The natives of 

 India poison their arrows with 

 a virulent poison obtained from 341 



A. ferox. From the Black, Foetid, and Green Hellebores 

 (^Helleborus niger, fodidus, and viridis) drastic and poison- 

 ous drugs are obtained. .Many plants of this family are 



^ Fig. 341. Clematis yackmanni. 



