5. G. vérnum, Torr. & Gray. Somewhat pubescent; stems ascending, few-leaved, slender; root-leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3–5-lobed, or some of them pinnate, with the lobes cut; petals yellow, about the length of the calyx; receptacle smooth.—Thickets, Penn. to Ill., south to Ky. and Tex. April–June.
§ 3. CARYOPHYLLÀTA. Style jointed and bent in the middle, the upper joint plumose; flowers large; calyx erect or spreading; petals erect.
6. G. rivàle, L. (Water, or Purple Avens.)—Stems nearly simple, several-flowered (2° high); root-leaves lyrate and interruptedly pinnate, those of the stem few, 3-foliolate or 3-lobed; petals dilated-obovate, retuse, contracted into a claw, purplish-orange; head of fruit stalked in the brown-purple calyx.—Bogs and wet meadows, Newf. to N. J., west to Minn. and Mo.—Flowers nodding; pedicels erect in fruit. (Eu.)
§ 4. SIEVÉRSIA. Style not jointed, wholly persistent and straight; head of fruit sessile; flowers large; calyx erect or spreading. (Flowering stems simple, and bearing only bracts or small leaves.)
7. G. triflòrum, Pursh. Low, softly-hairy; root-leaves interruptedly pinnate; leaflets very numerous and crowded, oblong-wedge-form, deeply cut-toothed; flowers 3 or more on long peduncles; bractlets linear, longer than the purple calyx, as long as the oblong purplish erect petals; styles very long (2´), strongly plumose in fruit.—Rocks, Lab. and northern N. Eng., to Minn. and Mo., rare. April–June.
8. G. radiàtum, Michx. Hirsutely hairy or smoothish; root-leaves rounded-kidney-shaped, radiate-veined (2–5´ broad), doubly or irregularly cut-toothed and obscurely 5–7-lobed, also a set of minute leaflets down the long petiole; stems (8–18´ high) 1–5-flowered; bractlets minute; petals yellow, round-obovate and more or less obcordate, exceeding the calyx (½´ long), spreading; styles naked except the base. (High mountains of N. C.)
Var. Péckii, Gray. Nearly glabrous, or the stalks and veins of the leaves sparsely hirsute.—Alpine tops of the White Mts.
Dryas Octopetala, L., a dwarf matted slightly shrubby plant, with simple toothed leaves and large white solitary flowers, has the characters of this section excepting its 8–9-parted calyx and 8 or 9 petals. It was said by Pursh to have been found on the White Mountains, N. H., ninety years ago, but it is not known to have been seen there since.
8. WALDSTEÌNIA, Willd.