RANUNCULACE^E. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 39 



spring, along with and considerably resembling Anemone nemorosa. Rarely 

 the sepals are 3-lobed like the leaflets. 



§ 2. Leaves alternate along the stem: no involucre: roots fibrous : flowers compara- 

 tively small and numerous, panicled: sepals 4 or 5, usually falling early. 



* Flowers diozcious or sometimes polygamous, in ample panicles : filaments slender : 



stigmas elongated, linear or subulate, mostly unilateral: achenia sessile or short- 

 stipitate, ovoid, pointed, strongly several-angled and grooved. 



2. T. dioicum, L. (Early Meadow-Rue.) Smooth and pale or glau- 

 cous, 1 ° - 2° high ; leaves all with general petioles ; leaflets drooping, rounded and 

 3 - 7-lobed ; flowers purplish and greenish ; the yellowish anthers linear, mu- 

 cronate, drooping on fine capillary filaments. — Rocky woods, &c. ; common. 

 April, May. 



3. T. purpurascens, L. (Purplish M.) Taller (2° -4° high, the 

 stem usually purplish) ; stern-leaves sessile (without general petiole) or nearly so ; 

 leaflets roundish or oblong and more or less 3-lobed, thickish, pale and usually 

 minutely pubescent beneath, the margin mostly revolute and the veining con- 

 spicuous; panicles compound; flowers (sepals, filaments, &c.) greenish and pur- 

 plish; amhers linear or oblong-linear, mucronulate, drooping on capillary fila- 

 ments which are manifestly broadened at the summit. (T. Virginianum elatius, 

 &c, Moris. T. rugosum, Ait. ? T. pubescens, Pursh. T. revolutum, DC.) — 

 Dry uplands and rocky hills, S. New England to Michigan, Illinois and south- 

 ward. May, June. — Sometimes nearly glabrous throughout, often minutely 

 pubescent, and in 



Var. ceriferum, C. F. Austin, mss., with the lower surface of the leaves, 

 sepals, and mostly the fruit thickly beset with waxy atoms. Plant often grow- 

 ing with the other, and exhaling a peculiar odor. 



4. T. Corntlti, L. (Tall M.) Smooth or obscurely pubescent, 4° -8° 

 high; stem-leaves sessile; leaflets nearly as in the last, but usually thinner and 

 less revolute and veiny and the lobes more acute ; panicles very compound ; 

 flowers white, the fertile ones with some stamens ; anthers not drooping, small, ob- 

 long, blunt, the white filaments decidedly thickened upwards. (T. rugosum, 

 Pursh., DC. T. corynellum, DC.) — Wet meadows and along rivulets, com- 

 mon, especially eastward. July - Sept. 



* * Flowers all perfect, corymbed ; the filaments strongly club-shaped or inflated under 



the small and short anther : stigma short and unilateral : achenia long -stipitate. 



5. T« clavatum, DC. Size and appearance of No. 2, but leaves only 

 twice ternate ; flowers white and fewer ; achenia 5-10, flat, somewhat crescent- 

 shaped, tapering into the slender stipe. — Mountains of S. Virginia and south- 

 ward. June. 



5. TRAUTVETTERIA, Fischer & Meyer. False Bugbane. 



Sepals 3-5, usually 4, concave, petal-like, very caducous. Petals none. 

 Achenia numerous, in a head, membranaceous, compressed-4-angled and in- 

 flated. Seed erect. — A perennial herb, with palmately-lobed leaves, all alter- 

 nate, and corymbose white flowers. (Dedicated to Prof Trautvetter, a Russian 

 botanist.) 



