RANUNCULACEiE. 21 



ORDER 3. RANUNCULACEiE. Crowfoot Tribe. 



Calyx many-leafed, inferior or below the germ, leafets or 

 sepals 3-6; polypetalous, 5-15 petals in rows, also inferior 

 or hypogynous ; stamens indefinite, many hypogynous ; pistils 

 many, one to each ovarium, forming a many-celled pistil, or 

 several small and distinct carpels or little seed-vessels ; fruit vari- 

 ous, generally herbaceous ; leaves alternate or opposite ; various 

 inflorescence. 



This is an extensive order of plants, but most numerous in 

 Europe, and next in North America. They belong to a climate 

 damp and cold. hind. A considerable number is found in 

 this Commonwealth. 



The properties of this order render the plants generally to be 

 suspected, as they are often caustic, acrid, or poisonous ; some- 

 times tonic, bitter, or antispasmodic. The medicinal characters 

 of the order are very diverse. 



Act3:a. L. 12. 1. 



Ji. rubra. W. Baneberry. Stem 2 feet high, glabrous, 

 round and glaucous, with leaves several times ternate ; flowers 

 white in a short raceme, bearing red and shining berries, whose 

 long pedicels are far smaller than the common peduncle ; flowers 

 in May, and grows in damp woods. 



A. alba. Big. White Baneberry. Stem and leaves differ 

 little from the preceding, but the raceme is less round, and longer ; 

 berries clear white, tipped with red, and their pedicels equal in 

 diameter to the common peduncle ; grows in the same places as 

 the other, and flowers at the same time. Astringent. 



A. racemosa. L. Cohosh. Black Snakeroot. Stem 3-5 

 feet high, smooth, with decompound, ternate leaves, and ovate- 

 oblong, dentate leafets; racemes of white flowers, 6-10 inches 

 long, and somewhat paniculate ; odor strong and fetid ; flowers 

 in July. Strong medicinal properties ; cultivated in the gardens 

 of the Shakers. 



