NAT. ORDER. PAPAVERACE^E. 
123 
unequal indentations. On each lobe one large fibre of a bright yel- 
low color may be seen, running from the leaf-stalks, and sending off 
many s nailer ones; the flowers are white and spreading, and have 
two deciduous calyx leaves; the calyx is so exceedingly fugacious, 
that it is common for them to fall off before the flower is expanded ; 
hence they are rarely seen ; the petals, which for the most part are 
purely white, are often tinged on their under side, and sometimes on 
their upper, with a delicate rose-color ; the flower-bud is generally 
faint rose-colored ; the petals vary exceedingly, both in size and in 
number. I have in many flowers counted from seven to fourteen; 
the most common number is about eight ; the stamens are numerous ; 
the anthers are simple and orange-colored ; the filaments are simple, 
shorter than the corolla, and of a yellow color; the pistilis of a red- 
dish green ; the germens oblong and compressed; style none; stigma 
thick, two-furrowed, with a stria the height of the stamens, and per- 
manent; the capsule, or, as Wildenow designates it, the siliqua, is 
oblong, swelling in the middle, acute at both ends, and two-valved ; 
the seeds are numerous, round and pointed. 
This is a plant peculiar to North America. Its systematic 
name, as well as its English and German appellations, are expressive 
of the peculiar reddish, or rather orange-colored juice which per- 
vades every part of it. It is one of the most beautiful and delicate 
vegetables of our country. It is particularly interesting from its 
flowering at a season when there is little or no general verdure, and 
scarcely any thing in bloom, except trees, the inconspicuous flores- 
cence of which does not render them in general very attractive. It 
is also one of the most abundant plants of our states, growing plen- 
tifully from Canada to Florida. 
The tendency of Blood-root, or Puccoon, to multiply its petals 
in favorable situations, renders it likely that culture would readily 
produce a double variety ; and, indeed, the variety Sanguinaria 
major flore plena, by Dillenius, as quoted under the synonyma, 
proves that such a change has been effected in it. As these double 
