BUTTERCUP FAMILY 
31 
Cauline leaves alternate; flowers inconspicuous, unisexual, com¬ 
monly dioecious, the sepals greenish.6. Thalictrum. 
Petals present, with a nectar-pit on claw; achenes crowded on a convex 
receptacle so as to appear capitate.7. Ranunculus. 
Leaves opposite ; flowers polygamous ; woody climber. 8. Clematis. 
1. PAECNIA L. 
Leaves ternately compound. Flowers large,, solitary and terminal. Se¬ 
pals and petals 5 or 6, the petals and the numerous stamens borne on a 
fleshy disk which is attached to the base of the calyx. Pods 2 to 5, thick 
and leathery. (Paion, the physician of the gods.) 
1. P. brownii Dough Peony. Somewhat fleshy plant, 2.2 to 2.8 dm. 
high ; leaves chiefly basal; peduncles 2.4 to 4.8 cm. long; petals dull red, 
thick and leathery, scarcely longer than the roundish concave sepals; 
pods 2.4 to 3.6 cm. long.—Brushy hillslopes. 
2. ACTAEA L. 
Leaves once or twice ternately compound, ample. Flowers small, white, 
in a terminal raceme. Sepals about 4, early falling. Petals small and 
narrow or none. Stamens many with small anthers and slender white 
filaments, which are more showy than the petals. Pistil 1, becoming a 
berry. (Latin name of the elder, transferred by Linnaeus to these plants.) 
1. A. spicata L. var. arguta Torr. Baneberry. Stems clustered, 4.3 
to 14.4 dm. high, from stout rootstocks; leaves mostly basal, 2.8 to 5.7 dm. 
long; leaflets deeply cut and sharply serrate; berry red or white, nearly 
globose.—Forests or wooded hills. 
3. AQUILEGIA L. 
Leaves chiefly basal, ternately compound. Flowers solitary, showy. 
Sepals 5, of the same color as the petals. Petals 5, all alike and with 
large spurs projecting backward. Some inner stamens sterile and reduced 
to scarious scales. Pistils 5, becoming several-seeded pods. (Derivation 
doubtful, said by some to be from the Latin aquila, an eagle, on account 
of the claw-like spurs.) 
1. A. truncata F. & M. Columbine. Stems 5.7 to 8.6 dm. high; leaflets 
roundish, incised and toothed above; flowers scarlet, tinged with yellow, 
hanging; spurs about 1.8 cm. long.—Shady and rather moist places in the 
hills. 
4. DELPHINIUM L. Larkspur 
Leaves palmately lobed or divided. Flowers in terminal racemes. 
Sepals 5, the upper one spurred at base. Petals 4, in pairs, the upper pair 
with nectar-bearing spurs which are hidden in the spur of the calyx. 
Pistils commonly 3. (Greek delphinion, Larkspur, derived from delphin, 
the flowers of some species resembling the classical figures of the dolphin.) 
Flowers red. 
Leaves divided into narrowly linear or lanceolate divisions ; stem leafy..... 
1. D. cardinale. 
Leaves parted into broad divisions ; stem few-leaved.....2. D. nudicaule. 
Flowers blue, white, pink or lavender. 
Root a globose tuber or a cluster of fleshy roots.3. D. decorum. 
Root a cluster of hard woody, often fusiform fibres. 
Petioles hirsute with spreading hairs, mostly short.4. D. variegatum. 
Petioles finely canescent. 
