10 THE GENUS RANUNCULUS. [part i. 



young stems, when cut or pressed, yielding a thin 

 yellowish juice, which is extremely acrid, and, 

 in most cases, poisonous. The flowers of the 

 plants belonging to Ranunculacese difffer widely 

 in their shapes ; and all the incongruities that 

 are only sparingly met with in other orders, are 

 here gathered together. Some of the flowers 

 have only a coloured calyx, as in the clematis ; 

 in others the calyx and corolla are of the same 

 colour, as in the globe-flower, or so intermingled 

 as to seem all one, as in the columbine ; and in 

 others the calyx forms the most ornamental 

 part of the flower, as in monkshood and the 

 larkspurs. In short, modern botanists seem to 

 have placed this unfortunate order first, as 

 though to terrify students on the very threshold 

 of the science, and to prevent them from daring 

 to advance any farther to penetrate into its 

 mysteries. 



THE GENUS RANUNCULUS. 



The word Ranunculus will doubtless conjure 

 up in the minds of my readers those very showy, 

 double, brilliantly- coloured flowers, which flower 

 in spring, and are generally grown in beds like 

 tulips. These flowers form a species of the 

 genus, under the name of Ranunculus asiaticus ; 

 and having been introduced from Asia, they 

 have retained their botanic name from not 



