1869.] LAWSON — ON THE RANUNCULACE^. 407 



bracted tbroughout; flowers pale-blue. Kingston, Chippewa 

 Maiden, Out. — Dr. P. W. Maclagan. Borders of woods and 

 half-cleared land about Belleville — Mr. Macoun ; Portland, 

 Frontenac County, Ont. — Dr. Dupuis, August, 1860, fl. and ft. ; 

 Frankville, Kitley ; also rear of Kingston ; abundant along every 

 roadside — G. L. Not noticed as occurring in Quebec Province, 

 but probably common about Montreal. 



Prof. Gray characterizes this plant as " a vile weed " in the 

 States, and it is so, likewise, throughout a large portion of Onta- 

 rio, but not in the Maritime Provinces. . Notwithstanding its 

 universal prevalence in some districts, and its complete absence 

 in others, its distribution has not been very accurately traced- 

 Judging from specimens in my herbarium the southern plant is 

 more robust and more hairy than the Canadian. It extends as 

 far south as the upper districts of South Carolina. 



ON THE RANUNCULACE^ OF THE DOMINION 

 OF CANADA AND OF ADJACENT PARTS OF 

 BRITISH AMERICA. 



By George Lawson, Ph.D , LL.D., &g. 



At a meeting of the Nova Scotian Institute held Dec. 13, 

 1869, Professor Lawson, of Dalhousie College, who has been 

 for some time engaged in investigating the Botany of the 

 Dominion, read a Monograph of the Ranunculacece. of the 

 Dominion of Canada and adjacent parts of British America. 



The paper, which is a lengthy one, will be published in the 

 Trans-actions of the Institute ; in the meantime the following 

 brief outline of its contents may not be unacceptable to our 

 readers : — 



The Ranunculacese are characterised by the perfect separation 

 of all the parts of the flower, the calyx of separate sepals, the 

 corolla of separate petals, the stamens numerous and free, and the 

 fruit composed of separate carpels. All these parts arise directly 

 from the thalamus or receptacle ; there is a great development in 

 the size of the sepals, and a tendency to suppression or malforma- 

 tion of petals. The ilanunculaceae are mostly herbaceous plants, 



