H epatica. W. 12. 12.
H. triloba. W. Early Anemone. Liverleaf. From the
Greek for liver, from the color of the leaves.
. Often misnamed Liverwort, which is a Marchantia, and very
different from this Liverleaf. Flowers early in the spring, on the
sides of sunny hills,'and in sunny openings of woods, sending up
a cluster of flower-stalks 3 - 4 inches high, hairy, and bearing
each a single white, or blue, or purplish flower ; leaves from the
root also, with petioles often longer than the peduncles of the
flowers, and rather prostrate, divided each into three segments or
lobes, rounded or acutish, and thus constituting the two varieties
of obtuse and acute leafed Liverleaf, in their older state, of a
fine liver-color. The plant flourishes well under bushes in gardens,
in situations exposed to the sun. Flowers in April ; was
taken from the genus Anemone.
This plant has been supposed to possess high medicinal virtues,
and is sometimes employed in pulmonary complaints.
T halictrum. L. 12. 12. Meadow Rue.
Three species are found in the meadows and borders of
woods, which resemble somewhat the Rue of the gardens at a
little distance ; the leaves are beautiful, but the flowers are insignificant,
and neither of the plants is of much consequence. T.
dioicum. L ., flowers rather earlier than T. cornuti, L. and T.
corynellum, DC., and is rather larger than the latter. May and
June.
Named from the Greek, to grow green, from the change in the
color of the leaves.
Caltha. L. 12. 12.
C. palustris. L. Cowslip. It is sometimes called Marsh
Marygold, and is a well-known plant of wet places and slow
streams. Stem a few inches high, with round, large, heart-
shaped or kidney-form leaves, and bearing many deep-yellow
flowers. The whole plant and flowers form one kind of common
and early greens for the table in the country. Flowers in April,
abundant. Several other species have been discovered in Arctic
America.
Named from the Greek, for goblet, as the corolla resembles a
golden cup. Loudon.
R anunculus. L. 12. 12.
This is an extensive genus ; forty-one species are ascribed to
North America by Torrey and Gray in their “ Flora ” ; fourteen
species are attributed to our Commonwealth by Professor Hitchcock,
in his “ Geology of the State,” p. 602. The flowers
have a great resemblance to each other, while the appearance of
the plants is considerably different.
From the Latin for frog, as so many species grow about frog-
ponds and the like places.
Jt. acris. L. Buttercups. Crowfoot. This is a common
plant, and in many places is a great nuisance in grass fields ; bears
fine yellow flowers, of middle size, on a branching stem, with
leaves much-divided, pubescent, or subglabrous. The plant, and
the root in particular, contain a strong acrid principle, which
disappears on drying. In its decoction seed-corn is sometimes
soaked, to protect it from being pulled up by crows. Flowers
from May to September. Root solid and fleshy, not large ; stem
near 2 feet high. Flowers double by cultivation, and are sometimes
found double in their native state.
R. bulbosus. L. Buttercups. A smaller plant, growing,
like the other, in fields and road-sides ; similar bright-yellow
flowers, glossy, and of a very rich hue ; much-divided leaves,
somewhat hairy; root more poisonous than the preceding, even
caustic ; flowers from May to August. See Bigelow’s “ Medical
Botany.”
R. abortivus. L. Small-flowered Crowfoot. Stem a foot
high or less, with radical leaves, undivided, and heart or kidney
shaped, crenate, or scolloped on the margin, with stem-leaves
in 3 or 5 divisions ; small, unsightly, yellow flowers ; common in
wet soils, in open woods or fields; flowers in May.
R. filiformis. Mx. This is a variety of R. reptans. L. Small,
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