The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 18

[+][+][+] Flowers unsymmetrical and irregular. Sepals 5.

17. Delphinium. Upper sepal spurred. Petals 4, of two forms; the upper pair with long spurs, enclosed in the spur of the calyx.

18. Aconitum. Upper sepal hooded, covering the two long-clawed small petals.

[+][+][+][+] Flowers regular, racemose. Sepals caducous. Petals very small, stamen-like, or none. Leaves decompound.

19. Cimicifuga. Flowers in long often paniculate racemes. Pistils 1--8, becoming many-seeded pods.

20. Actaea. Flowers in a single short raceme. Pistil single, forming a many-seeded berry.

[*][*] Ovules a single pair. Flowers regular. Roots yellow and bitter.

21. Hydrastis. Flowers solitary. Sepals 3, petal-like, caducous. Petals none. Stamens numerous. Pistils several, becoming 2-seeded berries.

Leaves simple, lobed.

22. Xanthorrhiza. Flowers in compound racemes. Sepals 5. Petals 5, small, 2-lobed, with claws. Stamens 5--10. Pods 1-seeded. Shrub with pinnate leaves.

1. CLeMATIS, L. VIRGIN'S-BOWER.

Sepals 4, or rarely more, colored, the valvate margins turned inward in the bud. Petals none or small. Achenes numerous in a head, bearing the persistent styles as naked, hairy, or plumose tails.--Perennial herbs or vines, mostly a little woody, and climbing by the bending or clasping of the leaf-stalks, rarely low and erect. Leaves opposite. (???at??, a name of Dioscorides for a climbing plant with long and lithe branches.)

-- 1. FLaMMULA. _Flowers cymose-paniculate, rather small, in our species dicious. Sepals petaloid, whitish, spreading, thin. Petals none.

Anthers short, blunt._

1. C. Virginiana, L. (COMMON VIRGIN'S-BOWER.) Smooth; leaves bearing 3 ovate acute leaflets, which are cut or lobed, and somewhat heart-shaped at the base; tails of the fruit plumose.--River-banks, etc., common; climbing over shrubs. July, August.

2. C. ligusticiflia, Nutt. Very similar, but the leaves 5-foliolate or quinate-ternate.--Long Pine, Neb., and west to the Pacific.

-- 2. VIoRNA. _Flowers large, solitary on long peduncles, usually nodding. Sepals thick, erect and connivent at base, mostly dull purple.

Petals none. Anthers linear._

[+] _Stems climbing; leaves pinnate; calyx (and foliage) glabrous or p.u.b.erulent._

3. C. Viorna, L. (LEATHER-FLOWER.) Calyx ovate and at length bell-shaped; the purplish _sepals_ (1' long) _very thick and leathery, wholly connivent_ or only the tips recurved; long tails of the _fruit very plumose_; leaflets 3--7, ovate or oblong, sometimes slightly cordate, 2--3-lobed or entire; uppermost leaves often simple.--Rich soil, Penn. to Mo., and southward. May--Aug.

4. C. Pitcheri, Torr. & Gray. Calyx bell-shaped; the dull purplish _sepals with narrow and slightly margined recurved points; tails of the fruit filiform and naked or shortly villous_; leaflets 3--9, ovate or somewhat cordate, entire or 3-lobed, much reticulated; uppermost leaves often simple.--S. Ind. to Kan., and Tex. June.

5. C. crispa, L. Calyx cylindraceous below, the upper half of the bluish-purple _sepals_ (1--2' long) _dilated_ and widely spreading, with _broad and wavy thin margins; tails of the fruit silky_ or glabrate; leaflets 5--9, thin, varying from ovate or cordate to lanceolate, entire or 3--5-parted. (C. cylindrica, _Sims._)--Va. near Norfolk, and southward. May--Aug.

[+][+] _Low and erect, mostly simple; flowers solitary, terminal; leaves sessile or nearly so, undivided, strongly reticulated._

6. C. ochroleuca, Ait. Leaves ovate, entire or sometimes 3-lobed, silky beneath; peduncles long; tails of the fruit very plumose.--Copses, Long Island to Penn. and Ga.; rare. May.

7. C. Fremonti, Watson. Leaves crowded, thick, often coa.r.s.ely toothed, sparingly villous-tomentose; peduncles very short; tails villous or glabrate, not plumose.--Mo. and Kan.

-- 3. ATRaGENE. _Some of the outer filaments enlarged and more or less petaloid; peduncles bearing single large flowers; the thin sepals widely spreading._

8. C. verticillaris, DC. Woody-stemmed climber, almost glabrous; leaves trifoliolate, with slender common and partial petioles; leaflets ovate or slightly heart-shaped, pointed, entire, or sparingly toothed or lobed; flower bluish-purple, 2--3' across; tails of the fruit plumose.--Rocky places in mountainous districts, Maine and W. New Eng.

to Va., Minn., and northwestward; rare. May.--A pair of leaves with a peduncle between them, developed in spring from each of the opposite buds, gives the appearance of a whorl, whence the specific name.

2. ANEMNE, Tourn. ANeMONE. WIND-FLOWER.

Sepals few or many, petal-like. Petals none, or in n. 1 resembling abortive stamens. Achenes pointed or tailed, flattened, not ribbed. Seed suspended.--Perennial herbs with radical leaves; those of the stem 2 or 3 together, opposite or whorled, and forming an involucre remote from the flower; peduncles 1-flowered, solitary or umbellate. (The ancient Greek and Latin name, from ??e??, to be shaken by the wind.)

-- 1. PULSATLLA. _Carpels numerous in a head, with long hairy styles which in fruit form feathery tails, as in_ Clematis; _flower large, usually with some minute or indistinct gland-like abortive stamens answering to petals._

1. A. patens, L., var. Nuttalliana, Gray. (PASQUE-FLOWER.) Villous with long silky hairs; peduncle solitary; flower erect, developed before the leaves, which are ternately divided, the lateral divisions 2-parted, the middle one stalked and 3-parted, the segments deeply once or twice cleft into narrowly linear and acute lobes; lobes of the sessile involucre like those of the leaves, at the base all united into a shallow cup; sepals 5--7, purplish or whitish (1--1' long), spreading when in full anthesis.--Prairies, Ill. and Mo., thence northward and westward.

March--April.--A span high. Tail of carpels 2' long. (Eu. Siberia.)

-- 2. ANEMNE proper. _Styles short, not plumose. Staminodia none._

[*] _Achenes densely long-woolly, compressed; involucre far below the flower._

[+] _Stem single, from a small tuber; sepals 10--20; style filiform._

2. A. Caroliniana, Walt. Stem 3--6' high; root-leaves once or twice 3-parted or cleft; involucre 3-parted, its wedge-shaped divisions 3-cleft; sepals 10--20, oblong-linear, purple or whitish; head of fruit oblong.--Ill. to Neb. and southward. May.

[+][+] _Stems several; sepals 5--8; style filiform._

3. A. parviflra, Michx. Stem 3--12' high from a slender rootstock, 1-flowered; root-leaves 3-parted, their broadly wedge-shaped divisions crenate-incised or lobed; involucre 2--3-leaved; sepals 5 or 6, oval, white; head of fruit globular.--Lake Superior, northward and westward.

May, June.

4. A. multifida, DC. Stems from a branching caudex, silky-hairy (6--12'

high); princ.i.p.al involucre 2--3-leaved, bearing one naked and one or two 2-leaved peduncles; leaves of the involucre short-petioled, similar to the root-leaves, twice or thrice 3-parted and cleft, their divisions linear; sepals obtuse, red, sometimes greenish-yellow or whitish; head of fruit spherical or oval.--Rocks, etc., N. E. Maine to Lake Superior, north and westward; rare. June.

[+][+][+] _Taller, commonly branching above or producing two or more peduncles; involucral leaves long-petioled; sepals 5--8, silky or downy beneath (4--6" long), oval or oblong; style subulate._

5. A. cylindrica, Gray. (LONG-FRUITED A.) Slender (2 high), silky-p.u.b.escent; flowers 2--6, on very long upright _naked peduncles_; involucral leaves twice or thrice as many as the peduncles, 3-divided; their divisions _wedge-lanceolate_, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 3-cleft; lobes cut and toothed at the apex; _sepals 5, rather obtuse_, greenish-white; _head of fruit cylindrical_ (1' long).--Dry woods, N.

Eng. to Mo., and northwestward. May.--Peduncles 7--12' long, all from the same involucre and naked throughout, or one involucellate in the middle.

6. A. Virginiana, L. More loosely p.u.b.escent or glabrate; involucral leaves 3, 3-parted; their _divisions ovate-lanceolate_, pointed, cut-serrate, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 3-cleft; peduncles elongated, the earliest naked, the others with a 2-leaved involucel at the middle, repeatedly proliferous; _sepals 5_, _acute_, greenish (in one variety white and obtuse); _head of fruit oval or oblong_.--Woods and meadows; common. June--August.--Plant 2--3 high; the upright peduncles 6--12' long.

[*][*] _Achenes naked, orbicular, compressed, wing-margined; sepals 5, obovate; involucre sessile._

7. A. Pennsylvanica, L. Hairy, rather low; primary involucre 3-leaved, bearing a naked peduncle, and soon a pair of branches or peduncles with a 2-leaved involucre at the middle, which branch similarly in turn; their leaves broadly wedge-shaped, 3-cleft, cut and toothed; radical leaves 5--7-parted or cleft; sepals white (6--9" long); head of fruit spherical.--W. New Eng. to Penn., Ill., and northwestward. June--Aug.

[*][*][*] _Achenes rather few, nearly naked, ovate-oblong; stems slender, 1-flowered; leaves radical._

8. A. nemorsa, L. (WIND-FLOWER. WOOD A.) Low, smoothish; stem perfectly simple, from a filiform rootstock; _involucre of 3 long-petioled trifoliolate_ leaves, their leaflets wedge-shaped or oblong, and toothed or cut, or the lateral ones (var. QUINQUEFOLIA) 2-parted; a similar radical leaf in sterile plants solitary from the rootstock; peduncle not longer than the involucre; sepals 4--7, oval, white, sometimes blue, or tinged with purple outside; carpels only 15--20, oblong, with a hooked beak.--Margin of woods. April, May.--A delicate vernal species; the flower 1' broad. (Eu.)

9. A. nudicaulis, Gray. Glabrous, rootstock filiform; radical leaves reniform, 3-parted, the divisions broadly cuneate with rounded crenate-incised or -lobed summit; involucre of a single similar petiolate leaf or wanting; achenes glabrous, tipped with a slender-subulate hooked style.--North sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior near Sand Bay, Minn., in bogs. (_Joseph C. Jones._) Imperfectly known.

3. HEPaTICA, Dill. LIVER-LEAF. HEPATICA.