RANUNCULACE.E. 93 



and May, and are succeeded by the bright red fruit which closely resembles 

 a raspberry, but is not edible. 



It was well known to, and used by the Indians both as a dye, and for me- 

 dicinal purposes, the root yielding a brilliant yellow colour which appears to 

 be permanent, and might be advantageously employed in the arts. In an 

 account of the principal dyes used by the Indians by Hugh Martin, in the 

 third volume of the Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1783, he states that from expe- 

 riments made with this article by himself and others, it was found to succeed 

 perfectly with silk, wool, and linen, and by the addition of indigo, to furnish 

 a rich green. 



Medical Uses, SfC — The Hydrastis is a powerful tonic bitter, and may be 

 used wherever such remedies are required. It is much employed in some of 

 the Western States as a wash in chronic ophthalmia and other diseases of the 

 eyes, and there is some evidence of its efficacy in these complaints. It 

 also enters into the composition of some cancer powders, but there is no 

 reason to believe, that it can exercise any influence on this formidable dis- 

 ease, more than any other mild tonic detergent. No analysis has been 

 made of it, nor are its medicinal properties fully known ; there is some evi- 

 dence that besides its tonic qualities, it is also slightly narcotic, at least in 

 a fresh state. It is given in tincture, decoction, and powder. 



Tribe 2. — Ranunculeje. — Calyx with a valvate aestivation. Petals fur- 

 nished with a nectariferous scale at the inner base. Achenia without tails. 

 Seed erect, sometimes suspended. 



Ranunculus. — Linn. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5 or many, with a glandular scale or spot at base. Stamens nume- 

 rous. Achenia ovate, pointed, compressed, disposed in cylindrical or rounded heads. 

 Seed erect. Herbaceous, annual or perennial. Leaves mostly radical, though cauline at 

 the base of the branches and peduncles. 



This is a very extensive genus, and the species, with few exceptions, are 

 all acrid and caustic when fresh, but are inert or nearly so when dried. 

 They are all herbaceous, and are natives of temperate or cold climates, 

 where they are found in great abundance. De Candolle enumerates 159 

 species, of which upwards of forty are indigenous to North America. 



R. acris. — Linn. — Calyx spreading, villous. Carpels roundish, compressed, terminated 

 by a short recurved style. Leaves 3-5 parted, segments laciniately trifid, uppermost 

 linear. 



Linn. Sp. PL 779 ; Tor. & Gray, Fl. i. 21 ; Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. Hi. 

 266 ; Steph. & Church. Med. Bot. ii. 82 ; Rafin. Med. Flar. ii. 72 j Lind- 

 ley, Flar. Med. 5. 



Common names. — Buttercup, Meadow-bloom, Blister-weed, &c. 



Description. — Root perennial, somewhat bulbous, with long simple fibres. Stem high, 

 erect, round, hollow, leafy, with minute hairs, branched, many-flowered. Radical leaves 

 oblong, hairy, with three to five lobes, which are variously subdivided and toothed. 

 The leaves of the stem are divided into fewer and narrower segments, sometimes entire 

 and linear. The flowers are terminal, of a bright yellow colour, and succeeded by 

 ovate pericarps consisting of many achenia, each of which is lenticular, smooth, and ter- 

 minated by a slightly-curved point. 



Linnaeus gave this species the name of acris on account of its highly acrid 

 and caustic properties, though it does not appear to possess these qualities in 



