556 RANUNCULACEAE 



all), Nigella (honey in little closed cavities), Aquilegia (honey in long 

 spurs), Delphinium (ditto, but | also, and blue), &c. 



Fr. a group of achenes or follicles (caps, in Nigella, berry in 

 Actaea) ; seeds with minute embryo and oily endosp. The R. are 

 mostly poisonous ; a few, e.g. Aconitum, are or have been medicinal. 



Classification ami chief genera (after Prantl) : 



A. Ovules many: follicle, berry or capsule. 



i. Paeonieae (no honey leaver; fls. usu. sol.; ovary wall fleshy; 



stigma broadened): Paeonia. 

 1. Helleboreae (usually honey-leaves; ovary wall rarely fleshy and 



then fls. in racemes ; fls. sol. or in cymes or racemes) : 



Caltha, Trollius, Helleborus, Nigella, Eranthis, Actaea, 



Aquilegia, Delphinium, Aconitum. 



B. Ovule one; achene. 



3. Anemoneae: Anemone, Clematis, Ranunculus, Thalictrum. 

 Ranunculastrum Fourr. = Ranunculus Tourn. p.p. (Ranunc. ). 

 Ranunculus (Tourn.) L. Ranunculaceae (3). 300 cosmop., esp. N. 

 temp.; 15 in Brit. R. Ficaria L. (pilewort or celandine) has tu- 

 berous roots, one formed at the base of each axillary bud; these 

 may give rise by separation to new plants. R. aquatilis L. (water 

 crowfoot) is often divided into a large number of so-called species; 

 it has a floating stem bearing 1. which in many are of two kinds 

 (heterophylly), the submerged 1. being much divided into linear seg- 

 ments, whilst the floating 1. are merely lobecl. R. repens L. (creeping 

 buttercup or crowfoot) has creeping runners which root at the nodes 

 and give rise to new pi. R. acris L. and R. bulbosits L. are other 

 common buttercups ; the latter has the base of the stem thickened 

 for storage. Fls. in cymes, reg., with well-marked K and C (see fam. 

 for diagram), protandrous and visited by a miscellaneous lot of insects 

 (class AB). Honey is secreted in little pockets at the base of the 

 petals. 



Ranzania T. Ito (Podophyllum p.p.). Berberidaceae. i Japan. 



Raoulia Hook. f. Compositae (4). 20 N.Z., Austr. Woolly herbs 

 forming dense tufted whitish masses (vegetable sheep). 



Rapa Tourn. ex L.= Brassica Tourn. (Crucif.). 



Rapaceus (Lat.), turnip-shaped. 



Rapanea Aubl. (Myrsine p.p. BH.}. Myrsinaceae (n). 140 trop., 

 subtrop. 



Rapatea Aubl. Rapateaceae. 5 Guiana, N. Brazil. 



Rapateaceae (EP., BH.}. Monocots. (Farinosae; Coronarieae BH.). 

 6 gen., 25 sp., S. Am. Herbs with 2-ranked narrow 1.; infl. term, 

 with 2 large spathes enclosing a head of spikelets, each of oo bracts 

 and a term. ? reg. 3-merous heterochlam. fl. K(3), C (3), A 3 + 3, 

 L* (3). 3-lc- with oo i ov. in each. Loculic. caps. Endosp. Chief 

 gemts: Rapatea. 



Rape, - oil, Brassica Napus L. ; broom -, Orobanche. 



Raphanistrocarpus Baill. (Momordica p.p.). Cucurb. (3). i E. trop. 

 Afr. 



Raphanistrum Tourn. ex Adans. = Raphanus Tourn. p.p. (Crucif.). 



Rapnanocarpus Hook. f. Cucurbitaceae (3). 2 trop. Afr. 



Raphanus (Tourn.) L. Cruciferae (2). 10 Medit., Eur., Java. R. 



