FLORA CAPENSIS. 
OrDER I. RANUNCULACEZ. D.C. 
(By W. H. Hanvey). 7 
(Ranunculi, Juss. Gen. p. 231. Ranunculacee, D.C. Prod. 1. p. 2. 
Endl. Gen, Pl. No. clxxviii. Lindl. Veg. King, cliv.) 
Sepals 3-20, mostly 5, separate, deciduous, rarely persistent, green 
or petaloid and coloured. Petals 5-15 (often wanting,) separate, hypo- 
gynous, In one or several rows. Stamens indefinitely numerous, hypo- 
gynous, free ; anthers consolidated with the filament, erect, two-celled, 
opening laterally by a longitudinal slit. Ovaries, many or few, often 
very numerous, separate (rarely cohering by the ventral sutures) ; 
ovules one or several, sutural. Fruit either dry achenia ; succulent 
drupes or berries ; or many-seeded follicles. Seeds without arillus, ana- 
tropous, with copious albumen, and a minute, sub-basal embryo. 
Herbs or twining shrubs, with colourless, acrid juice. Leaves, except in Clematis, 
alternate ; petioles concave, expanded into an imperfect sheath at the base, and 
clasping the stem ; lamina usually much cut, or multipartite. Flowers gaily 
coloured, solitary or panicled, pedunculate. 
With the exception of the first Tribe (Clematidec ), the plants of this extensive 
and widely-distributed Order are herbaceous. ‘They abound throughout the northern 
Temperate Zone, particularly in its colder and moister climates. They are compa- 
tively rare in S. America and Australia, and still less frequent in Africa. Of the 
40 genera and 1200 species known to botanists, but § genera, comprising 18 species, 
fall within the limits of our Flora: and only one genus (Knowltonia) is peculiar 
to South Africa. Acridity and causticity in the juices are prevailing characteristics 
of Ranunculacee. Some are violent poisons ; but in many the poisonous principle 
18 volatile, disappearing in the process of drying. Of the S. African species, but 
two have a place in the pharmaceutical list ; namely, Knowltonia vesicatoria, a com- 
mon, rustic blistering application ; and Ranunculus pinnatus, whose juice is 
for cancerous ulcers. 
TABLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GENERA. ~ 
A. twining shrubs, with opposite leaves. ae 
B. Herbaceous plants with alternate or radical leaves. 
Thalictrum.. als 4-5, shorter than the stamens. Carpels without tails, 
IT. peace a numerous, longer than the stamens. Carpels dry, tailed. 
** Sepals green. Petals present. 
IV. Knowltonia.—Sepals 5. Petals numerous. Carpels fleshy and juicy. 
V. Ranunculus,—Sepals 3-5. Petals 5-10, each with a scale or pit near 
the base, Carpels dry. 
| I. CLEMATIS, Linn. — | 
Sepals 4-8, coloured, valvate in the bud. Petals none, or ast) 
small. Carpels numerous, dry, one-seeded, with hairy or feathery 
