Part 18 (1/2)

[+][+][+] 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.