16. AQUILÈGIA, 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. Canadénsis, 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. brevístyla, Hook. Flowers small, blue or purplish or nearly white; spurs incurved.—Red River valley, Dak.; Rocky Mts., northward.
A. vulgàris, L., the common Garden Columbine, of Europe, with hooked spurs, is beginning to escape from cultivation in some places.
17. DELPHÍNIUM, 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 classical figures of the dolphin.)
[*] Perennials, indigenous; pistils 3.
1. D. exaltàtum, 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. tricórne, 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 cluster. Stem simple, 6´–3° high. Flowers bright blue, sometimes white, occasionally numerous.
3. D. azùreum, 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 pubescent. Flowers sky-blue or whitish.
[*][*] Annual, introduced; petals 2, united into one body; pistil single.
D. Consólida, 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. Ajàcis, L. Flowers more numerous and spicately racemose; pods pubescent.—Sparingly escaped from gardens in E. Atlantic States. (Nat. from Eu.)
18. ACONÌTUM, 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. Noveboracénse, Gray. Erect from tuberous-thickened roots, 2° high, leafy, the summit and strict loosely flowered raceme pubescent; 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. uncinàtum, 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, coarsely 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. reclinàtum, 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. CIMICÍFUGA, 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 Actæa. 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. Americàna, 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. MACRÒTYS. Pistil solitary, sometimes 2–3, sessile; seeds smooth, flattened and packed horizontally in the pod in two rows, as in Actæa; stigma broad and flat.
2. C. racemòsa, 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. dissécta, Gray. Leaves irregularly pinnately decompound, the rather small leaflets incised.—Centreville, Del. (Commons.)
20. ACTÆ̀A, 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 ἀκτέα, actæa, ancient names of the elder, transferred by Linnæus.)
1. A. spicàta, L., var. rùbra, 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. álba, 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. HYDRÁSTIS, Ellis. Orange-root. Yellow Puccoon.
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