NAT. ORDER. 

 Ranunculacece. 



HELLEBORUS ORIENTALIS. BEAR'S-FOOT HELLEBORE. 



Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Order III. Polygynia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, wanting. Corolla, six-petalled. Stamens, six. 

 Pistils, three. Capsules, three, many-sided. 



Spe. Char. Raceme, more than decomposed. Corollas, erect. 



The root is small, but beset with an innumerable number of 

 slender dark-colored fibres : the stem rises to the height of two or 

 three feet ; near the bottom it is round, strong, firm, naked, and 

 marked with alternate cicatrices, the vestiges of the former leaves ; 

 at the top it divides and subdivides into branches, producing many 

 flowers, and is garnished with scaly leaves or bracteae ; the leaves 

 are numerous, and stand upon long footstalks, surrounding the 

 middle of the stem ; they are divided, like the Hellehorus niger, 

 into simple leaves, which are usually eight or nine in number, 

 long, narrow, lanceolated, serrated, and of a dark green color ; 

 the scaly leaves, placed at the ramifications of the flower stem, are 

 smooth, trifid, alternate, and often purplish ; but those near the 

 flowers are oval and pointed ; \he flowers are numerous, terminal, 

 pendent, of a roundish shape, and stand upon peduncles, forming 

 a sort of umbel ; the petals are six, oval, concave, persistent, of a 

 pale green pink color, and their margins sometimes tinged with 

 purple ; the stamens are about the length of the petals ; the anthers 

 are white ; the germens three, hairy, and shaped similarly to those 

 of the Hellehorus niger. This plant is said to be a native of Eng- 



Vol iii.— 48 



