38 CROWFOOT FAMILY. 



5. THALICTRUM, MEADOW RUE. (Old name of obscure deriva- 

 tion.) (Lessons, Fig. 161.) % 



* Flowers mostly dioxious, small, in loose compound panicles ; the 4 or 5 

 sepals falling early; filaments slender; stigmas slender; akenes sev- 

 eral-grooved and angled. 



T. dibicum, Linn. Eakly Meadow Rue. Herb glaucous, l°-2° 

 high ; flowers greenish in early spring ; the yellowish linear anthers of 

 the sterile plant hanging on long capillary filaments ; leaves all on gen- 

 eral petioles. Rocky woods. 



T. polygamum, Muhl. Tall M. Herb 4°-8° high ; stem-leaves not 

 raised on a general petiole ; flowers white in summer ; anthers oblong, 

 blunt, not drooping; the white filaments thickened upwards. Low or 

 wet ground. 



T. purpurdscens, Linn. Pokplish M. Later, often a little downy, 

 2°-4: high ; stem-leaves not raised on a general petiole ; flowers greenish 

 and purplish ; anthers short-linear, drooping on capillary and upwardly 

 rather thickened filaments. Dry uplands and rocky hills. 



• * Flowers all perfect, corymbed; filaments strongly club-shaped or in- 



flated under the short anther; stigmas short; akenes long-stalked. 



T. clav4tum, DC, has the size and appearance of T. dioicum; 

 flowers white, fewer, appearing in June or July ; mountains southward. 



6. TRAUTVETTIiRIA, FALSE BUGBANE. (For Trautvetter, a 

 Russian botanist.) One species, with numerous 4-angled, capitate, in- 

 flated akenes. U 



T. palmd.ta, Fisch. & Meyer, along streams of S. Central States. Stems 

 2°-3° high ; root-leaves large, palmately 5-11-lobed, the lobes toothed and 

 cut. 



7. ADONIS. (Adonis, killed by a wild boar, was fabled to have been 

 changed at death into a flower.) Stems leafy ; leaves finely much cut 

 into very narrow divisions. Cult, from Europe for ornament. 



A. testiv All's, Linn. ® Stems about 1° high ; flower deep crimson ; 

 petals flat, half longer than calyx. 



A. autumnalis, Linn. Pheasant's Ete A. ® Near 1° high, stem or 

 its branches terminated by a small globose flower of 5-8 scarlet or crim- 

 son petals, concave, commonly dark at base, scarcely larger than sepals. 

 Sparingly naturalized. 



'' A. vernalis, Liim. Spring A. % Stems about 6' high, bearing a 

 large, showy flower of 10-20 lanceolate, light-yellow petals in early spring. 



8. MYOSURUS, MOUSETAIL (which the name means in Greek). (J) 



' M. minimus, Linn. An insignificant little plant, wild or run wild 

 along streams from Illinois S., with a tuft of narrow entire root-leaves, 

 and scapes l'-S' high, bearing an obscure yellow flower, followed by tail- 

 like spike of fruit, l'-2' long in spring and summer. 



9. RANUNCULUS, CROWFOOT, BUTTERCUP. (Latin name for 

 a little frog, and for the Water Crowfoots, living with the frogs.) A 

 large genus of plants, wild with the exception of the double-flowered 

 varieties of three species cult, in gardens for Ornament. (Lessons, 

 Figs. 245, 341, 376, 377.) 



