10 BERBERIDE^E. [Aquilexjia. 



many-seeded. — Name, eXeiv, to injure, and fiopa, food, from 

 the poisonous nature of the plant. Polyandria. Polygynia. 



1. H. viridis, Linn. Green Hellebore. St; m few-flowered, 

 leafy; leaves digitate; calyx spreading. Br. Fl. 1. p. 268. 

 E. Fl. v iii. p. 57. E. Bot. t. 200. 



A specimen in the herbarium, left by Mr. J. Drummond at the Cork 

 institution, was found by him near Cork. The late Doctor Wade 

 states that it was found sparingly on rocky and copsy pasture ground 

 at Drummartin, near Dundrum, but I have not seen Irish specimens. 

 Fl. April, May. %. — The H. fcetidus, which is very common in gar- 

 dens, has not been found in a wild state in Ireland. 



8. Aquilegia. Linn. Columbine. 



Calyx of 5 sepals, deciduous, petaloid. Petals 5, gaping up- 

 wards; their upper lip large and flat; their lower very small, 

 each elongated downwards into a hollow spur, callous at the 

 apex, and projecting between the sepals. Ovaries 5. Fol- 

 licles the same number, erect, many-seeded, pointed by the 

 styles. — Named from Aquila, an Eagle, whose claws the nec- 

 taries resemble. Polyandria. Pentagynia. 



1. A. vulgaris, Linn. Common Columbine. Spur of the pe- 

 tals incurved; capsules or ovaries hairy; stem leafy, many- 

 flowered; leaves nearly glabrous ; styles as long as the stamens. 

 Br. Fl. 1. p. 26 1. E. Fl. v. iii. p. 33. E. Bot. t. 97. 



Woods and coppices in several places ; probably often the outcast of 

 gardens. Fl. June. 2£. — Found plentifully on Knockmaroon hill, in 

 180-1, (before it was so much broken up, as it now is, for strawberry 

 beds,) growing among furze bushes. In a furze brake at the upper end 

 of Duncombe's Wood, near Cork ; Mr. J. Drummond. On lime- 

 stone rocks and pastures, between Headford and Cong, in a truly wild 

 state ; Mr. J. Shuttleworth. Abundant on the shore of Lough 

 Neagh, near Salterstown ; Mr. D. Moore. My specimens from Mr. 

 Shuttleworth have the flowers of a light blue, which is the general 

 colour in its wild state. In gardens it varies very much in the colour 

 of its flowers, and often becomes double ; when the spurs of the petals 

 disappear. 



Ord. 2. BERBERIDE.E. Vent. Barberry Family. 



Sepals 3 — 4 — 6, deciduous, in a double series, accompanied 

 by scales. Petals equal in number with the sepals and opposite 

 to them, rarely twice as many, often furnished with a gland or 

 scale within. Stamens as many as there are petals, and oppo- 

 site to them : filaments short ; anthers oblong, adnate, 2-celled, 

 opening by valves. Ovary solitary, 1-celled; style very short, 

 oblique; stigma suborbicular. Fruit baccate or capsular ; seeds 

 1 — 3. Albumen fleshy or somewhat horny ; embryo straight, 

 in the axis of the albumen. Radicle inferior. Cotyledons 



