THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE PLANTS. 



161 



The buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) contains, besides the butter- 

 cups, of which there are about forty New Zealand species, the charm- 

 ing clematises (fig. 65), and an alpine genus (('(tltha) containing two 

 species, which have a most curiously lobed leaf. 







FIG. 65. Clematis afoliata. 



m 



[Plioto, J. Collins. 



The mustard or cabbage family (Cruciferae) are mostly plants 

 with rather insignificant flowers. Lepidium is the most important 



