156 PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 
BLACK COHOSH. BLACK SNAKEROOT. BUGBANE. 
(Plate LXX1X,) 
Cimictfuga racemosa. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Crow/oot. Waite. Disagreeable. General. Summer. 
Flowers: growing in racemes one to three feet in length. Calyx: of four or 
five early falling sepals. Coro//a: very irregular, two of the petals appearing 
like transformed. stamens. Stamens: numerous; with protruding filaments 
that give the whole a feathery appearance. /isti/s: one, two or three. 
Leaves : alternate ; pinnately-divided, the leaflets deeply toothed. Stem: three 
to eight feet high. 
It is well that the Indians have given this plant the reputa- 
tion of being efficacious for snake-bite; and that its generic 
name, signifying to drive away bugs, endues it with the power 
of expelling plant vermin. Otherwise we might be inclined to 
shower anathemas upon it, as a deceitful thing that beckons 
us to its presence by its wand-like racemes and then treats us 
to such an unpleasant odour that we are prone to hasten away 
as swiftly as possible. It may truly be classed among those 
objects to which, from the standpoint of frail humanity, dis- 
tance lends enchantment. 
EARLY SAXIFRAGE. 
Saxifraga Virgindénsts. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Saxtfrage. White. Scentless. Northeast to Georgia March-June. 
westward to Tennessee. 
Flowers : small; densely clustered in cymes upon the ends of hairy scapes. 
Calyx : of five very short sepals. Corolla: of five petals. Stamens: ten. 
Pistil : one, with two styles. /yrzzt: a many seeded, purple capsule. Leaves: 
clustered at the root; obovate; toothed. Scafe: three to nine inches high; 
clammy. : 
All the timorous, hesitating beauty of the early spring bloom 
clusters about the saxifrage. It slips into the woods quietly, as 
though fearful that if it made a noise or attracted too much 
attention, Jack Frost might send some one, or come himself, 
which would be worse, and punish it by retarding its growth. 
We find it on the top, or in the clefts, of rocks, which it has 
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