Taxon	Illustrator ⠉
	Nigella damascena Actaea pachypoda Eranthis hyemalis Actaea rubra	John Myers John Myers John Myers John Myers

Herbs, perennial, from ca. 1cm thick rhizomes formed of several subglobose segments (tubers). Leaves basal, petiolate. Leaf-blade deeply, palmately divided or 3–5-foliolate; leaflets ovate, unlobed to 3-lobed, margins sharply cleft, irregularly dentate. Inflorescences terminal, flowers solitary; involucres present, involucral-bracts 3, leaflike, closely subtending flower. Flowers bisexual, radially symmetric; sepals not persistent in fruit, 5–8, yellow, plane, narrowly obovate or elliptic, ca. 15–18 mm; petals 5–8, distinct, yellow [white], cupped around nectary, 2-lipped, ± clawed, ca. 4mm; nectary present; stamens 30–36; filaments filiform; staminodes absent between stamens and pistils; pistils 3–9 (–11), 1-carpellate; ovules 6–9 per pistil; style present. Fruit follicles, aggregate, stipitate, flat, [linear] oblong-lanceolate, sides with veins conspicuous upon drying; beak terminal, straight or distally curved, 2–3 mm. Seeds olive-brown, ovoid to ellipsoid, somewhat flattened, smooth. x =8.

Distribution

North America, Europe, Asia

Discussion

Species 8 (1 in the flora).

The seven Asian species are sometimes segregated as Shibateranthis Nakai. Of the species that are cultivated in North America, only one is known to escape and infrequently become established; more often it is found persisting after cultivation.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Eranthis hyemalis

"thick" is not a number.