HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA 213 



>, T. viBGJJiiCA, L. Stem erect, sometimes branching ; leaves lance- 

 linear, channelled above, glabrous; flowers in a terminal subum- 

 pellate cluster ; calyx pubesoent. Beck, Bot. p. 376. Ico*, Bart. 

 Jim. 2. tab. 41. 



Vibgibuast Tbidbbcastia. Vulgo — Spider-wort. 



Root perennial, creeping. Stem 12 to 18 inches high (often in benches, or sevc. 

 pal from the same rooi), very smooth. Leaves 12 to 18 inches long, and half aa 

 inch to an inch wide, acute, with parallel nerves, amplexicaul at base, slightly cil- 

 uite on the margin. Flowers in a terminal cluster, with a large 2- (rarely 3-)leaved 

 (nvolucrc at base, resembling the leaves } pedicels half an inch to an inch long, pu- 

 Descent,— after flowering, parted into 2 ranks, and deflected, or recurved, on each 

 side, over the base of the involucre. Sepals lance-ovate, rather acute, externally 

 pilose. Petals blue, often tinged with purple, ovate, veined, thin and membrana- 

 ceous, nearly twice as long as the calyx. Stamens shorter than the corolla \fila* 

 inents densely clothed with blue hairs, which appear beautifully jointod, or monili- 

 form, under a lens; anthers yellow, largo, recurved, or crescent-shaped. Style hi- 

 iform, as long as the stamens ; stigma capitate. [Capsule obtusely triangular, 3- 

 cfilled, 3-valved, covered by the calyx. Seeds 2 or 3 in each cell, compressed, an- 

 gular. Torr.] 



Ifab. Moist low grounds ; meadows, dec. freqnent. Fl. May— June. Fr. 



Obs. I have not had an opportunity to examine the fruit of this plant; and I 

 think it is very apt to be abortive, in this vicinity. The stem is succulent, and re- 

 markably filled with a slimy mucilage,— probably worthy of notice as an emollient 

 application. One ctber species is known in the U. States ; and Muhlenberg enu- 

 merates a third. 



166. LEONTICE. L. DC. Prodr. I. p. 109. 

 [Gr. abridged from Leoniopetalon ; the leaf resembling the print of a Lion's foot.] 



Calyx of 3 to 6 sepals 7 , naked externally. Petals 6, unguicuiate, 

 with a scale on each claw. Ovary superior, ventricose-obovoid, ob- 

 liquely beaked. Seeds 2 to 4, globose, inserted in the bottom of the 

 capsule, which is ruptured at an early period, and each naked drupe- 

 like seed elevated on its clavaie funiculus. 



Herbaceous: stem apparently branching into petioles at summit; leaves com- 

 pound, bi- or iri-tcrnate; peduncles at the subdivisions of the petioles; flowers lift 

 paniculate racemes. Nat. Ord. 22. Lindl. Berbbride^b. 



1. L. thalictroides, L. Lower leaf triternate, upper onebiternate ; 

 leaflets oblong-ovate and cuneate-obovate, mostly 3-lobed at apex ; 

 flowers paniculate ; pediuicle from the base of the upper petioles* 

 Beck, Bot. p. 17. 



Caulophyllum thalictroides. Mx. Am. I. p. 205. Icok, tab. 21, Pers. 

 Syn. 1. p. 387. Pursh, Am. I. p. 218. Nutt. Gen. 1. p. 210. BarU 

 Phil. I. p. 160. Ull. Sk. I. p. 411. Florul. Cestr. p. 39. Lindl. Ency. 

 p. 286. Eat. Man. p. 85, 



Tualictrum-likb Leoictics. Vnlgc — Blue Cohosh. PappQose»reot 

 Whole plant glabrous, purplish and glaucous when young. Root perennial* 

 Stem 12 to 18 inches high, generally 2-leaved ; the lower leaf mostly triternate 

 (bearing 27 leaflets), usually with a common petiole, and the 3 primary divisions 

 long, the upper leaf biternato (bearing 9 leaflets), without a common petiole ; leaf- 

 Ipts 2 to 3 inches long, and 1 to 2 inches wide, varying from obliquely-ovate to oir 



