CROWFOOT FAMILY. 41 



IX. CALTHA, MARSH MARIGOLD. (A Latin name for the com- 

 mon Marigold. "> (Lessons, Figs. 325, 392.) % One common spe- 

 cies N. 



C. paliistris, Linn. Marsh Marigold, wrongly called Cowslip in the 

 country. Stem l°-2° high, bearing one or more rounded or somewhat 

 kidney-shaped, entire or crenate leaves, and a few flowers with showy 

 yellow calyx, about 1£' across ; followed by a cluster of many-seeded 

 pods. Marshes in spring; young plant boiled for "greens." 



12. THOLLIUS, GLOBEFLOWER. (German: troll, a globe, or 

 something round?) Flower large, like that of Caltha, but the 5-many 

 sepals not spreading except in our wild species ; a row of small nectary- 

 like petals around the stamens, and the leaves deeply palmately cleft or 

 parted. % Flowers spring. 



T. laxus, Salisb. Wild G. Sepals only 5 or 6, spreading wide open, 

 yellowish or dull greenish- white ; petals very small, seeming like abor- 

 tive stamens. Swamps, N. H. to Del. and Mich. Also W. 



7\ Europceus, Linn. European G. Sepals bright yellow (10-20), or 

 white, broad, and converging into a kind of globe, the flower appearing 

 as if semi-double ; petals equaling the stamens. Eu. 



T. Asidticus, Linn. Asiatic G. Like the last, but flower rather more 

 open, and deep orange, yellow, or white ; the petals longer than stamens. 

 Siberia. 



13. HELLEBORUS, HELLEBORE. (Old Greek name of unknown 

 meaning.]) % Sepals 6, persistent, enlarging, and becoming green after 

 flowering. European plants, with pretty, large flowers, in early spring. 



H. viridis, Linn. Green H., has stems near 1° high, bearing 1 or 2 

 leaves and 2 or 3 pale yellowish-green flowers ; run wild in a few places E. 



H. n)ger, Linn. Blacic H., the flower called Christmas Rose (because 

 flowering in warmer parts of England in winter), has single large flowers 

 (2'-3' across, white, turning pinkish, then green), on scapes shorter than 

 the shining evergreen leaves in earliest spring. Garden varieties are more 

 commonly cult, than the species. 



14. COPTIS, GOLDTHREAD. (Greek : to cut, from divided leaves.) 

 y. Sepals 5-7, deciduous. The only common species is 



C. trif 61ia, Salisb. Three-leaved G. A delicate little plant in bogs 

 and damp cold woods ST., sending up early in spring single white flowers 

 (smaller than those of Wood Anemone) on slender scapes, followed by 

 slender-stalked leaves of three wedge-shaped leaflets ; these become 

 bright-shining in summer, and last over winter. The long, slender, bright 

 yellow, underground stems are used as a popular medicine. 



15. NIGELLA, FENNEL FLOWER. (Name from the black seeds.) 

 (J) Garden plants from Eu. and Orient; stems leafy; the 5 ovaries 

 united below into one 5-styled pod. Seeds large, blackish, spicy. One 

 species has been used as a substitute for spice or pepper. 



N. Damascena, Linn. Common F. or Ragged Ladt. Love-in-a- 

 Mist. Flower bluish, rather large, surrounded and overtopped by a 

 finely divided, leafy involucre, like the other leaves; succeeded by a 

 smooth, inflated, 5-celled pod in which the lining of the cells separates 

 from the outer part. 



