RANUNCULA CEAE. 4 1 5 



In rich woods from Idaho and Utah to the Black Hills of S. Dak. Also collected 

 on Mt. Mackay, Ont., and Willoughby Mountains, Vt. 



4. Actaea alba (L.) Mill. White Baneberry. (I. F. f. 1555.) Closely re- 

 sembles A. rubra. Leaflets generally more cut and the teeth and lobes acute or 

 acuminate; raceme oblong, petals truncate; fruiting pedicels as thick as the pedun- 

 cle and often red; berries white, often purplish at the end. In woods, N. S. and 

 Anticosti to Ga., west to Minn, and La. April-June. 



10. CIMICIFUGA L. 

 Tall erect perennial herbs, with large decompound leaves, and white racemose 

 flowers. Sepals 2-5, petaloid. deciduous. Petals 1-8, small, clawed, 2-lobed or 

 none. Stamens numerous. Carpels 1-8, many-ovuled, sessile or stipitate, form- 

 ing follicles at maturity. Stigma broad or minute. [Latin, to drive away bugs.] 

 A genus of about 10 species, natives of N. Am., Asia and eastern Europe. Besides 

 the following, there are 3 on the western side of the continent. 

 Carpels 1 or 2, sessile ; seeds in 2 rows, smooth. 



Leaflets ovate, oblong or obovate, narrowed, truncate or subcordate at the base. 



1. C. racemosa. 

 Leaflets broadly ovate or suborbicular, deeply cordate. 2. C. cordi/olia. 



Carpels 2-8, stalked ; seeds in 1 row, chaffy. 3. C. Americana. 



1. Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt. Black Snakeroot. Black Cohosh. 

 (I. F. f. 1556.) Stem slender, 1-2. 5 m. high, leafy above. Leaves ternate, the 

 divisions pinnate and the ultimate leaflets often again compound; leaflets ovate or 

 oblong, or the terminal one obovate, incisely-toothed, cleft or divided, thickish, 

 nearly glabrous; racemes compound, terminal, 1.5-6 dm. long; flowers 12-14 mm - 

 broad, foetid; petals 4-8, 2-cleft; follicles oval, 6-8 mm. long, minutely beaked. 

 In woods, Me. and Ont. to Wis., south to Ga. and Mo. June-Aug. 



Cimicifuga racemdsa dissgcta A.Gray. Leaves pinnately compound, the leaflets all 

 incised. Conn., S. Penn. and Del. 



2. Cimicifuga cordifolia Pursh. Heart-leaved Snakeroot. (I. F. f. 

 1557.) Tall, similar to the preceding species. Leaflets very broadly ovate or or- 

 bicular, acute, obtuse or acuminate at the apex, deeply cordate at the base, some- 

 times 15 cm. wide; pistil 1, sessile; follicles apparently very similar to those of 

 C. racemosa. In woods, S. W. Va. to N. Car. and Tenn. June-July. 



3. Cimicifuga Americana Michx. American Bugbane. (I. F. f. 1558.) 

 Stem slender, 1-1.5 m. high, leafy. Leaves ternate, the divisions pinnate, with many 

 of the ultimate leaflets again compound; leaflets ovate or oblong, the terminal one 

 generally cuneate, acute, thin, glabrate, all incisely toothed, cleft or divided, 3-7 

 cm. long; racemes slender, compound, densely and finely pubescent, 3-6 dm. long; 

 flowers pedicelled, 8-12 mm. broad; pedicels minutely bracted; pistils 3-8, stipi- 

 tate; stigma minute; follicles inflated, membranous, 10 mm. long, narrowed be- 

 low; beak short, oblique, subulate. Watkins, N. Y., to Blair Co., Perm., and Ga. 

 Aug.-Sept. 



xx. AQUILEGIA L. 



Erect branching perennial herbs, with ternately decompound leaves, and large 

 showy flowers. Sepals 5, regular, petaloid, deciduous. Petals concave, produced 

 backward between the sepals into a hollow spur; stamens numerous, the inner 

 ones reduced to staminodia. Carpels 5, sessile, many ovuled. forming heads of 

 follicles in fruit. [Latin eagle, from the fancied resemblance of the spurs to the 

 eagle's claws.] About 15 species, distributed throughout the north temperate zone 

 and extending into the mountains of Mexico. Besides the following, some 12 others 

 occur in the western part of N. Am. 



Spur of petals nearly straight; flowers scarlet, white or in a variety yellow. 

 Spur stout, abruptly narrowed near the apex; sepals ovate-lanceolate. 



1. A. coccinea. 

 Spur slender, gradually narrowed from near the base, sepals broadly ovate. 



2. A. Canadensis. 

 Spur incurved; flowers blue, white or purple. 



Flowers 15-18 mm : style in fruit 2-4 mm. 3. A. brevistyla. 



Flowers 2-4 cm.; style in fruit 6-8 mm, 4. A. vulgaris. 



