MKUICO-BOTANICAL NOTICES. 
197 
and with only a very slight aroma; on mastication the root 
tinges the saliva yellow, its interior is bright yellow, or gold 
coloured. It possesses no smell whatever. 
Coptis belongs to the sub-division of Ranunculacede, called 
Helleboreae. 
Coptis Teeta; leaves three-cleft, segments petiolate, pin- 
natifidly lobed, lobes deeply and very acutely and setaceously 
serrate, scape few flowered, bracts foliaceous, linearly three 
parted. Rootsub-carnose, much divided, fibrillous, within of a 
yellow golden colour. Stalk * * * ? Leaves erect, glabrous, 
longly petiolate, texture firm and rigid, resembling, in habit, 
the frond of a dorsiferous fern, ovate cordate, attenuately 
accuminate, four inches long, segments supported by a partial 
petiole half an inch long, — lateral ones semi-cordate ovate, ex- 
ternally almost biparted, two inches long; intermediate one 
twice as large, a little longer than the petiole, attenuate towards 
the point, cuneate, sub-decurrent at base: all incisely pinna- 
tifid, lobes obtuse, with broadish serratures terminated with 
setae, reticulated, superior nerves pubescent, inferior veins 
tortuously forked. Petiole slender, as long as the leaf, dila- 
ted at base. Scape round, erect, delicate, a little striate, as 
long as the leaf, bearing three flowers at its apex, (rarely more,) 
which are small, alternate and pedunculate. Sepals oblong, 
lanceolate, attenuate, acute, whitish, parallelly veined, glabrous, 
as long as the claw, fugaceous. Petals linear ligulate obtuse, 
one-third the length of the sepals, flattish ? Stamens and 
pistils many ; anthers piano-rotund, whitish. Immature 
carpels membranaceous, containing from three to five ovules, 
shortly stipitate and terminated by a sub-cylindrical fleshy 
style, as long as the carpel, and declinate, stigma within sca- 
brous. Bracts under each peduncle foliaceous, narrow linear, 
with setaceous serratures on the margin, below three parted. 
Peduncles elongated. 
There are only three species of Coptis, viz: — C. trifolia, C. 
asplenifolia, and the present; the last bears greater resem- 
blance to the first, which affords the drug, commonly known 
as " Gold Thread." 
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