20 BEEBERIDACE^. (bAEBEKRT FAMILY.) 



notched at tho apex ; berries oval (otherwise as in No. 1, of which Dr. Hooker 

 deems it a variety, perhaps with reason). — Alleghanies of Virginia and south- 

 ward: not in Canada. June. — Shrub l°-3° high. 



B. (Mah6nia) AQuir6LiuM, Pursh, of Western N.America, — belonging 

 to a section of the genus with mostly erergreen pinnate leaves and blue ber- 

 ries, — is not rare in cultivation, as an ornamental slirub. 



2. CAiri.OPIli'I.l.UM, Michx. Blue Cohosh. 



Sepals 6, with 3 small braetlets at the base, ovate-oblong. Petals 6 thick and 

 gland-like somewhat kidney-shaped or hooded bodies, with short claws, much 

 smaller than tho sepals, one at the base of each of them. Stamens 6 : anthers 

 Oblong. Pistil gibbous : style short ; stigma minute and unilateral : ovary 

 bursting soon after flowering by the pressure of tlie 2 erect, enlarging seeds, 

 and withering away ; the spherical seeds naked on their thick seed-stalks, look- 

 ing like drupes ; tho fleshy integument turning blue : albumen of the texture of 

 horn. — A perennial glabrous herb, with matted knotty rootstocks, sending up 

 in early spring a simple and naked stem, terminated by a small raceme or pani- 

 cle of yellowish-green flowers, and a little below bearing a large tiiternately 

 compound leaf without any common petiole (whence the name, from KavXos, 

 stem, and ^vX\ov, leaf; the stem seeming to form a stalk for the great leaf). 

 Leaflets obovate-wedge-fonn, 2 - 3-lobed. 



1. C. tlialictroides, Michx. (Also called Pappoose-eoot.) Ledn- 

 tice thalictroides, Z. — Deep rich woods. April, May. — Stems l°-2^° high. 

 Flowers appearing while the leaf is yet small. A smaller bitemate leaf often 

 at the base of the panicle. Whole plant glaucous when young, also the seeds, 

 which are of the size of large peas. 



3. DIPHYI^IjEIA, Michx. XJmeeella-leaf. 



Sepals 6, fugacious. Petals 6, oval, flat, larger than the sepals. Stamens 6 : 

 anthers oblong. Ovary oblong : style hardly any : stigma depressed. Ovules 5 

 or 6, attached to one side of the cell below the middle. Berry few-seeded. 

 Seeds oblong, with no aril. — A perennial glabrous herb, with thick horizontal 

 rootstocks, sending up each year either a huge, centrally peltate and cut-lobed, 

 rounded, umbrella-like radical leaf on a stout stalk, or a flowering stem bearing 

 two similar (but smaller and more 2-cleft) alternate leaves which are peltate near 

 one margin, and terminated by a cyme of white flowers. (Name composed of 

 SiV, twice, and (piiWov, ^^^f-) 



1. I>. cymosa, Michx. Wet or springy places, mountains of Virginia 

 and southward. May. — Root-loaves l°-2° in diameter, 2-cleft, each division 

 5 - 7-lobed ; lobes toothed. Berries blue. 



4. JEFFERSONIA, Barton. Twin-leaf. 



Sepals 4, fugacious. Petals 8, oblong, flat. Stamens 8 : anthers oblong- 

 linear, on slender filaments. Ovary ovoid, soon gibbous, pointed : stigma 2- 

 lobed. Pod pear-shaped, opening half-way round horizontally, the upper part 



