Calyx-teeth conspicuous. Fruit ovoid to oblong, slightly flattened dorsally; carpel with 3 or 4 or all the ribs strongly winged; oil-tubes solitary in the intervals, 2 on the commissure. Stylopodium wanting; styles long.—Perennials (2–5° high), with ternately divided leaves (or the lower simple) and broad serrate or toothed leaflets, mostly yellow flowers, and all the fruit pedicelled. (Name a play upon Thapsia, so called from the island of Thapsus.)
1. T. aùreum, Nutt. Glabrous; root-leaves mostly cordate, serrate; stem-leaves simply ternate (rarely biternate); leaflets ovate to lanceolate, round or tapering at base, serrate; flowers deep yellow; fruit globose-ovoid, about 2´´ long, all the ribs equally winged.—Thickets and woodlands, throughout the Atlantic States and west into the Miss. Valley. Fl. in summer and maturing fruit in late summer or autumn. Very variable, an extreme form being
Var. trifoliàtum, Coult. & Rose. Leaves or leaflets crenate or crenately toothed. (T. trifoliatum, Gray, Man., in part.)—Ohio to Ill., westward to Oregon. The common western form.
Var. atropurpùreum, Coult. & Rose. Petals dark-purple. (T. trifoliatum, var. atropurpureum, Gray, Man.)—Same range as the species.
2. T. barbinòde, Nutt. Loosely branched, pubescent on the joints, sometimes puberulent in the umbels; leaves 1–3-ternate; leaflets ovate to lanceolate, acute, with cuneate base, coarsely cut-serrate, often ternately cleft or parted; flowers light yellow; fruit broadly oblong, about 3´´ long and 2´´ broad, with mostly 7 prominent wings.—Banks of streams, N. Y. to Minn., and southward. May–June.—Var. angustifòlium, Coult. & Rose, has narrower, more sharply cut leaflets, and fruit more or less puberulent.—Penn. to Ill.
3. T. pinnatífidum, Gray. Resembling the last, but puberulent on the branchlets, umbels, and fruit, with fewer leaves; leaflets 1–2-pinnatifid, the lobes linear or oblong; one or two leaves near the base often very large and long-petioled; flowers light yellow; fruit oblong, 1½–2½´´ long and 1–1½´´ broad, all the ribs winged, generally three of them narrowly so. (T. Walteri, Shuttlew. in herb.)—Barrens and mountains, Ky. to Tenn. and N. C.
12. LIGÚSTICUM, L. Lovage.
Calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit oblong or ovate, flattened laterally if at all, glabrous; carpels with prominent equal acute ribs and broad intervals; oil-tubes 2–6 in the intervals, 6–10 on the commissure. Stylopodium conical.—Smooth perennials, from large aromatic roots, with large ternately compound leaves, mostly no involucre, involucels of narrow bractlets, and white flowers in large many-rayed umbels. (Named from the country Liguria, where the officinal Lovage of the gardens abounds.)
1. L. actæifòlium, Michx. (Nondo. Angelico.) Stem stout, branched above (2–6° high); leaves very large, 3–4-ternate; leaflets broadly oblong (2–5´ long), coarsely serrate; fruit ovate (2–3´´ long); seed with angled back.—Rich ground, S. Penn. to Ky., southward to the Gulf.
2. L. Scóticum, L. (Scotch Lovage.) Stem simple (1–2° high); leaves biternate; leaflets ovate (1–2´ long), coarsely toothed; fruit narrowly oblong (4–5´´ long); seed with round back.—Salt marshes, along the coast from Nantucket northward. Aug. (Eu.)