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f 



FLORA 



BRITISH WEST INDIAN ISLANDS. 



DICOTYLEDONES. « 



I. RANUNCULACEiE. 



Flower-organs distinct from each other, the two inuer whorls usually indefinite. Anthers 

 adnate : cells extrorse or lateral. Embryo minute, included in the top of the endosperm. 

 — Leaves sheathing, mostly dissected, without stipules. 



The sap contains an acrid, volatile principle, and alkaloids occur in the tribe of Helleborece. 

 The Negroes bruise the leaves of Clematis dioica and apply it as a blister. (Pd.) 



1. CLEMATIS, L. 



Sepals corolline, valvate, 4 (-8). Petals none. Achenia numerous, sessile, beaked by 

 the elongated style. — Vines ^rarely erect herbs), climbing by the petioles ; leaves opposite. 



1. C. dioica, L. Climbing, pubescent or glabrescent ; leaves ternately divided : seg- 

 ments ovate, entire; panicles polygamous; sepals cuneate-obloug, spreading, downy; 

 carpels ellipsoidal, tapering into the long, plumose tail. — SI. t. 128. f. 1 ; Rich. Cub. t. 1. — 

 C. americana, Mill. C. dominica, Lam. C. glabra, DC. C. havanensis, Kth. C. pallida 

 and Catesbyana, Rick. Cub. (non Pursh). C. acapulcensis, H.A. / .• a form with shaggy car- 

 pels. C. discolor, Gardn. ! .- a form with the leaves downy beneath. — A shrubby climber ; 

 leaf-segments l£"-2" long, variable ; sepals 4"'-6"' long, whitish ; carpels usually large, 2'" 

 -3"' long. — Hab. Jamaica !, Macf., Dist., Prd., Alex., common on the lower hills ; Domi- 

 nica!, Imray ; [Cuba ! and Mexico ! to the southern tropic in .Brazil !]. 



2. C. caripensis, Kth. Climbing, glabrescent ; leaves pinnatisect, or the divisions of 

 the tematisect petiole pinnatisect: segments usually 5, ovate, entire, glabrous; panicles 

 dioecious, puberulous ; sepals "oblong, pubescent ;" carpels ellipsoidal or elliptical-lanceolate. 

 — Very similar to the preceding species, and not less widely distributed through the Con- 

 tinent. — Hab. Trinidad!, Cr.; [Central America ! to Brazil!]. 



2*. RANUNCULUS, L. 



Petals 5 (-15), with a nectariferous spot. Seed solitary, erect. — Herbs. 



3*. R. repens, L. Perennial ; stem furrowed at the top, branched ; leaves tripartite : 

 segments cuneate, incisely toothed ; calyx spreading (or reflexed) ; carpels rounded, glabrous, 

 marginate, beaked by the subulate, recurved or straightish style. — Jichb. Ic. Germ. 3. t. 20. 

 — Petals yellow. 



£. tropicus. Calyx reflexed ; petals 5-10 ; beak of carpels straightish. — R. pnemorsus 

 and Bonplandianus, Kth. R. repens, Macf. I The Jamaica form, which, though growing 

 on the highest mountains, Macfadyen expressly mentions as introduced and escaped from a 

 garden, is quite identical with various specimens from the Andes (viz. R. pramorsus, from 

 Quito : Benih. PI. Hartw. n. 875 ; the same from Peru ; R. Bonplandianus from Bogota : 



B 



