The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 21

E. HYEMaLIS, Salisb. Dwarf; flowers cup-shaped, 1' in diameter; petals shorter than the stamens.--Near Philadelphia. (Adv. from Eu.)

16. AQUILeGIA, Tourn. COLUMBINE.

Sepals 5, regular, colored like the petals. Petals 5, all alike, with a short spreading lip, produced backward into large hollow spurs, much longer than the calyx. Pistils 5, with slender styles. Pods erect, many-seeded.--Perennials, with 2--3-ternately compound leaves, the leaflets lobed. Flowers large and showy, terminating the branches. (Name from _aquilegus_, water-drawing.)

1. A. Canadensis, L. (WILD COLUMBINE.) Spurs nearly straight; stamens and styles longer than the ovate sepals.--Rocks, common.

April--June.--Flowers 2' long, scarlet, yellow inside (or rarely all over), nodding, so that the spurs turn upward, but the stalk becomes upright in fruit.

2. A. brevistyla, Hook. Flowers small, blue or purplish or nearly white; spurs incurved.--Red River valley, Dak.; Rocky Mts., northward.

A. VULGaRIS, L., the common GARDEN COLUMBINE, of Europe, with hooked spurs, is beginning to escape from cultivation in some places.

17. DELPHiNIUM, Tourn. LARKSPUR.

Sepals 5, irregular, petal-like; the upper one prolonged into a spur at the base. Petals 4, irregular, the upper pair continued backward into long spurs which are enclosed in the spur of the calyx, the lower pair with short claws; rarely only 2, united into one. Pistils 1--5, forming many-seeded pods in fruit.--Leaves palmately divided or cut. Flowers in terminal racemes. (Name from _Delphin_, in allusion to the shape of the flower, which is sometimes not unlike the cla.s.sical figures of the dolphin.)

[*] _Perennials, indigenous; pistils 3._

1. D. exaltatum, Ait. (TALL LARKSPUR.) Stem slender, 2--5 high; leaves deeply 3--5-cleft, the divisions narrow wedge-form, diverging, 3-cleft at the apex, acute; _racemes wand-like_, panicled, _many-flowered_; flowers purplish-blue, downy; spur straight; _pods erect_.--Rich soil, Penn. to Minn. and southward. July.

2. D. tricorne, Michx. (DWARF L.) Leaves deeply 5-parted, their divisions unequally 3--5-cleft; the lobes linear, acutish; _raceme few-flowered, loose_; spur straightish, ascending; _pods strongly diverging_.--W. Penn. to Minn. and southward. April, May.--Root a tuberous cl.u.s.ter. Stem simple, 6'--3 high. Flowers bright blue, sometimes white, occasionally numerous.

3. _D. azureum_, Michx. Leaves deeply 3--5-parted, the divisions 2--3 times cleft; the lobes all narrowly linear; _raceme strict_; spur ascending, usually curved upward; _pods erect_.--Wisc. to Dak. and southward. May, June.--Stem 1--2 high, slender, often softly p.u.b.escent.

Flowers sky-blue or whitish.

[*][*] _Annual, introduced; petals 2, united into one body; pistil single._

D. CONSoLIDA, L. (FIELD L.) Leaves dissected into narrow linear lobes; inflorescence loosely paniculate; pedicels shorter than the bracts; pod glabrous.--Old grain-fields, Penn. and Va.; also sparingly along roadsides farther north. (Nat. from Eu.)

D. AJaCIS, L. Flowers more numerous and spicately racemose; pods p.u.b.escent.--Sparingly escaped from gardens in E. Atlantic States. (Nat.

from Eu.)

18. ACONTUM, Tourn. ACONITE. MONKSHOOD. WOLFSBANE.

Sepals 5, petal-like, very irregular; the upper one (helmet) hooded or helmet-shaped, larger than the others. Petals 2 (the 3 lower wanting entirely, or very minute rudiments among the stamens), consisting of small spur-shaped bodies raised on long claws and concealed under the helmet. Pistils 3--5. Pods several-seeded. Seed-coat usually wrinkled or scaly.--Perennials, with palmately cleft or dissected leaves, and showy flowers in racemes or panicles. (The ancient Greek and Latin name, of uncertain origin.)

1. A. Noveboracense, Gray. Erect from tuberous-thickened roots, 2 high, leafy, _the summit and_ strict loosely flowered _raceme p.u.b.escent_; leaves rather deeply parted, the broadly cuneate divisions 3-cleft and incised; flowers blue, _the helmet gibbous-obovate_ with broad rounded summit and short descending beak.--Chenango and Orange Cos., N. Y.

2. A. uncinatum, L. (WILD MONKSHOOD.) Glabrous; _stem slender, from tuberous-thickened roots, erect_, but weak and disposed to climb; _leaves firm, deeply 3--5-lobed_, petioled, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, coa.r.s.ely toothed; _flowers blue; helmet erect, obtusely conical_, compressed, slightly beaked in front.--Rich shady soil along streams, Penn., and southward in the mountains; Wisc. June--Aug.

3. A. reclinatum, Gray. (TRAILING WOLFSBANE.) Glabrous; stems trailing (3--8 long); _leaves deeply 3--7-cleft_, petioled, the lower orbicular in outline; the divisions wedge-form, incised, often 2--3-lobed; _flowers white_, in very loose panicles; _helmet soon horizontal, elongated-conical_, with a straight beak in front.--Cheat Mountain, Va., and southward in the Alleghanies. Aug.--Lower leaves 5--6' wide.

Flowers 9" long, nearly glabrous.

19. CIMICiFUGA, L. BUGBANE.

Sepals 4 or 5, falling off soon after the flower expands. Petals, or rather transformed stamens, 1--8, small, on claws, 2-horned at the apex.

Stamens as in Actaea. Pistils 1--8, forming dry dehiscent pods in fruit.--Perennials, with 2--3-ternately-divided leaves, the leaflets cut-serrate, and white flowers in elongated wand-like racemes. (Name from _cimex_, a bug, and _fugo_, to drive away.)

-- 1. CIMICIFUGA proper. _Pistils 3--8, stipitate; seeds flattened laterally, covered with chaffy scales, in one row in the membranaceous pods; style awl-shaped; stigma minute._

1. C. Americana, Michx. (AMERICAN BUGBANE.) Stem 2--4 high; racemes slender, panicled, ovaries mostly 5, glabrous; pods flattened, veiny, 6--8-seeded.--Mountains of S. Penn. and southward. Aug.--Sept.

-- 2. MACRTYS. _Pistil solitary, sometimes 2--3, sessile; seeds smooth, flattened and packed horizontally in the pod in two rows, as in_ Actaea; _stigma broad and flat._

2. C. racemsa, Nutt. (BLACK SNAKEROOT. BLACK COHOSH.) Stem 3--8 high, from a thick knotted rootstock; racemes in fruit becoming 1--3 long; pods ovoid.--Rich woods, Maine to Wisc., and southward. July.--Var.

DISSeCTA, Gray. Leaves irregularly pinnately decompound, the rather small leaflets incised.--Centreville, Del. (_Commons._)

20. ACTae'A, L. BANEBERRY. COHOSH.

Sepals 4 or 5, falling off when the flower expands. Petals 4--10, small, flat, spatulate, on slender claws. Stamens numerous, with slender white filaments. Pistil single; stigma sessile, depressed, 2-lobed. Fruit a many-seeded berry. Seeds smooth, flattened, and packed horizontally in 2 rows.--Perennials, with ample 2--3-ternately compound leaves, the ovate leaflets sharply cleft and toothed, and a short and thick terminal raceme of white flowers. (From ??t?a, _actaea_, ancient names of the elder, transferred by Linnaeus.)

1. A. spicata, L., var. rubra, Ait. (RED BANEBERRY.) _Raceme ovate_; petals rhombic-spatulate, much shorter than the stamens; _pedicels slender; berries cherry-red_, or sometimes white, oval.--Rich woods, common, especially northward. April, May.--Plant 2 high. (Eu.)

2. A. alba, Bigel. (WHITE BANEBERRY.) Leaflets more incised and sharply toothed; _raceme oblong; petals slender_, mostly truncate at the end, appearing to be transformed stamens; _pedicels thickened in fruit_, as large as the peduncle and red, the globular-oval _berries white_.--Rich woods, flowering a week or two later than the other, and more common westward and southward.--White berries rarely occur with slender pedicels, also red berries with thick pedicels; but these are perhaps the result of crossing.

21. HYDRaSTIS, Ellis. ORANGE-ROOT. YELLOW PUCc.o.o.n.

Sepals 3, petal-like, falling away when the flower opens. Petals none.

Pistils 12 or more in a head, 2-ovuled; stigma flat, 2-lipped. Ovaries becoming a head of crimson 1--2-seeded berries in fruit.--A low perennial herb, sending up in early spring, from a thick and knotted yellow rootstock, a single radical leaf and a simple hairy stem, which is 2-leaved near the summit and terminated by a single greenish-white flower. (Name unmeaning.)

1. H. Canadensis, L. (GOLDEN SEAL, etc.) Leaves rounded, heart-shaped at the base, 5--7-lobed, doubly serrate, veiny, when full grown in summer 4--9' wide.--Rich woods, N. Y. to Minn., and southward.

22. XANTHORRHZA, Marshall. SHRUB YELLOW-ROOT.

Sepals 5, regular, spreading, deciduous. Petals 5, much smaller than the sepals, concave and obscurely 2-lobed, raised on a claw. Stamens 5 to 10. Pistils 5--15, with 2 pendulous ovules. Pods 1-seeded, oblong, the short style becoming dorsal.--A low shrubby plant; the bark and long roots deep yellow and bitter. Flowers polygamous, brown purple, in compound drooping racemes, appearing along with the 1--2-pinnate leaves from large terminal buds in early spring. (Name compounded of ?a????, _yellow_, and ???a, _root_.)

1. X. apiiflia, L'Her. Stems cl.u.s.tered, 1--2 high; leaflets cleft and toothed.--Shady banks of streams, Penn. to S. W. New York and Ky., and south in the mountains. The rootstocks of this, and also of the last plant, were used as a yellow dye by the aborigines.

NIGeLLA DAMASCeNA, L., the FENNEL-FLOWER, which offers a remarkable exception in having the pistils partly united into a compound ovary, so as to form a several-celled capsule, grows nearly spontaneously around gardens.

ORDER 2. MAGNOLIaCEae. (MAGNOLIA FAMILY.)

_Trees or shrubs, with the leaf-buds covered by membranous stipules, polypetalous, hypogynous, polyandrous, polygynous; the calyx and corolla colored alike, in three or more rows of three, and imbricated (rarely convolute) in the bud._--Sepals and petals deciduous. Anthers adnate.

Pistils many, mostly packed together and covering the prolonged receptacle, cohering with each other, and in fruit forming a sort of fleshy or dry cone. Seeds 1 or 2 in each carpel, anatropous; alb.u.men fleshy; embryo minute.--Leaves alternate, not toothed, marked with minute transparent dots, feather-veined. Flowers single, large. Bark aromatic and bitter.

1. MAGNLIA, L.

Sepals 3. Petals 6--9. Stamens imbricated, with very short filaments, and long anthers opening inward. Pistils coherent, forming a fleshy and rather woody cone-like red fruit; each carpel at maturity opening on the back, from which the 1 or 2 berry-like seeds hang by an extensile thread composed of unrolled spiral vessels. Inner seed-coat bony.--Buds conical, the coverings formed of the successive pairs of stipules, each pair enveloping the leaf next above, which is folded lengthwise and applied straight against the side of the next stipular sheath, and so on. (Named after _Magnol_, Professor of Botany at Montpellier in the 17th century.)