DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
19 
mer. FI. June-September. The herb, collected in flowering 
season. 
Cercis Canadensis, L. Red-bud. Judas-tree. A small, orna- 
mental tree with rounded heart-shaped simple leaves, cad- 
ucous stipules, and red- purple flowers in umbel-like clusters 
along the branches of the last or preceding years, appearing 
before the leaves. Corolla imperfect papilionaceous ; standard 
smaller than the wings ; keel-petals larger and not united. 
Pod oblong, flat, many-seeded, the upper suture with a 
winged margin. Earliest of our flowering trees. Rich soils, 
everywhere. FI. in February-March. The bark, collected 
in fall. 
Cassia Marilandica, L. American Senna. Stout herbs 3-4° 
high, from perennial rootstocks. Leaves abruptly pinnate, 
leaflets 6-9 pairs lanceolate-oblong, obtuse ; petiole with a 
club-shaped gland near the base; stipules deciduous. 
Flowers in short axillary racemes, the upper ones panicled. 
Sepals 5, scarcely united at base. Petals 5, unequal, spread- 
ing, yellow. Pods linear, slightly curved, flat; whole plant 
glabrous. In open grounds, alluvial soils, abundantly. 
July- August. Leaflets, collected after flowering. 
Gymnocladus Canadensis, Lam. A large, tall tree with rough 
bark, stout branchlets, and large unequally twice-pinnate 
leaves, which are 2-3° long, with several large partial leaf- 
stalks bearing 7-13 ovate, stalked leaflets, the leaflets 
standing vertical, the lowest pair of leaves with single leaf- 
lets; stipules wanting. Flowers dioecious or polygamous, 
regular. Calyx elongated-tubular below, 5-cleft. Petals 5, 
oblong, equal, inserted on the summit of the calyx tube. 
Stamens 10, distinct, short, inserted with the petals. Pod 
6-10' long, 2' broad, the seeds over across. Woods with 
rich soil, scatteringly but generally distributed over the State. 
The leaves and seeds are used in homeopathic practice. 
Baptisia tinctoria, R. Br. Wild Indigo. Perennial herb, 
2-3° high, smooth and slender, rather glaucous, with spread- 
ing branches, palmately 3-foliolate, almost sessile leaves. 
