Jeffersonia
(named after T. Jefferson, 1743-1826, at one time President of the United States of America). ORD. Berberideae. A genus comprising two species of hardy perennial herbs, the one from North America, the other from Mandschuria. Flowers white, solitary; scape naked. Leaves radical, and for the most part bilobed or bipartite. The species best known to cultivation is J. diphylla, a very desirable plant. It thrives in a sandy-peat soil, in the rockery or border, and in rather shady situations. Propagated by divisions; or by seeds, which should be sown so soon as ripe.
J. diphylla (two-leaved). fl. white, solitary, about 1in. across; petals eight; stamens yellow. Spring. l. profoundly cleft into two lobes. h. 3in. to 6in. Tennessee, 1792. (B. M. 1513.)