NAT. ORDER. 
Ranunculacece. 
HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS. GOLDEN SEAL. 
Class XIII. Polyandria. Order VI. Polygynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, of three ovate sepals. Petals, wanting-. Sta- 
mens and Ovaries, numerous. Fruit, baccate, numerous, collect- 
ed into a head, each terminated by the style, one-celled, one or 
two-seeded. 
Spe. Char. Seeds, somewhat egg-shaped, smooth. Root, bitter, 
rather pungent and tonic, yielding a beautiful yellow dye, whence 
its name, yellow-root. 
This plant derived its name from hydor, water, in reference to 
the humid places where it grows. 
This is a small perennial herb, with tuberous roots. It is a native 
of North America, growing in watery places along the Alleghany 
mountains, from Canada to Carolina ; along the river Ohio, and on the 
western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, in shady woods, in fertile 
soil, and among rocks. Root with fleshy tubercles, yellow on the in- 
side ; stem herbaceous, simple, one-flowered ; lower leaves one or two, 
stalked, upper ones almost sessile, all of which are three to five-parted, 
with their lobes grossly toothed ; Jlowers white or purplish, terminal, 
stalked ; fruit fleshy, red, similar to that of Rubus ; carpels ovate, 
acute, from eight to fourteen inches high. 
The root is the part used for medicinal purposes ; it is juicy when 
fresh, and loses two-thirds of its weight by drying. The taste is ex- 
ceedingly bitter, rather pungent, and nauseous. The smell is strong 
and virose. It contains Amarine, extractive, several salts, and a pe- 
Yoh. in.— 174. 
