92 



RANUNCULACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



3. Cimicifuga americana Michx. Amer- 

 ican Bugbane. Fig. 1866. 



C. americana Michx. Fl. Am. i : 316. 1803. 



Stem slender, 3°-5° high, leafy. Leaves ter- 

 nate, the divisions pinnate with many of the 

 ultimate leaflets again compound; leaflets 

 ovate or oblong, the terminal one generally 

 cuneate, acute, thin, glabrate, all incisely 

 toothed, cleft or divided, i'-^' long; racemes 

 terminal, slender, compound, densely and 

 finely pubescent, l°-2° long; flowers pedi- 

 celled, 4"-6" broad; pedicels minutely bracted ; 

 petals few, 2-lobed ; stamens numerous; pistils 

 3-8, stipitate, stigma minute; follicles inflated, 

 membranous, 5" long, narrowed below, tipped 

 with a short oblique subulate beak; seeds in i 

 row, flattened, chaffy. 



Central New York and Pennsylvania, south 

 along the mountains to Georgia and Tennessee. 

 Mountain rattle-top. Aug.-Sept. 



II. AQUILEGIA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 533. 1753. 



Erect branching perennial herbs, with ternately decomposed leaves, and large showy 

 flowers. Sepals S, regular, petaloid, deciduous. Petals concave, produced backward between 

 the sepals into hollow spurs; stamens numerous, the inner ones reduced to staminodia. 

 Carpels 5, sessile, many-ovuled, forming heads of follicles in fruit. [Latin, eagle, from the 

 fancied resemblance of the spurs to the eagle's claws.] 



A genus of beautiful plants, comprising about 50 species, distributed throughout the north tem- 

 perate zone and extending into the mountains of Mexico. Besides the following, some 20 others 

 occur in the western parts of North America. Type species : Aquilegia z'ltlgaris L. 



Spur of petals nearly straight ; flowers scarlet, white or yellow. i. A. canadensis. 



Spur incurved ; flowers blue or purple, about 9" long. 2. A. brevistyla. 



Spur strongly hooked ; flowers white or purple, I'-z' long. 3. A. vulgaris. 



I. Aquilegia canadensis L. Wild Columbine. Rock-bells. Fig. 1867. 



Aquilegia canadensis L. Sp. PI. 533. 1753. 

 Aquilegia flaviflora Tenney, Am. Nat. i : 389. 1867. 

 Aquilegia canadensis flaviflora Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 



15: 97. 1888. 

 Aquilegia coccinea Small,- Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. I ; 280. 



1899. 



Glabrous or somewhat pubescent, i°-2° high, 

 branching. Lower and basal leaves slender-peti- 

 oled, biternate, 4'-6' broad, the ultimate leaflets 

 sessile or on very short stalks, obovate, obtuse, 

 cuneate, obtusely lobed and toothed, pale beneath; 

 leaves of the upper part of the stem lobed or di- 

 vided; flowers nodding, 1-2' long, scarlet or rarely 

 white, or yellow, the spurs nearly straight, 6" long, 

 thickened at the end ; stamens and styles long- 

 exserted; head of fruit erect; follicles slightly 

 spreading, about 8" long, tipped with a filiform beak 

 of about the same length. 



In rocky woods. Nova Scotia to the Northwest Terri- 

 tory, south to Florida and Texas. Ascends to 5000 ft. 

 in Virginia. Consists of several races, differing in size 

 and color of the flowers, and in pubescence. Also at 



high altitudes in the Rocky Mountains. Honeysuckle. Rock-lily. Bells. Meeting-houses Tack- 

 in-trousers. Cluckies. April-July. ' 



