A HANDY BOOK 



OF 



HARDY HERBACEOUS 

 PERENNIALS. 



ORD. RANUNCULACE^. 



In this natural order there are many plants of the most showy 

 and elegant description. It is essentially an order of herba- 

 ceous plants, for if Clematis with climbing shrubby stems, and 

 Xanthoriza, a low-growing uninteresting shrub, be excepted, the 

 remaining mass are either perennial, herbaceous, biennial, or 

 annual plants. The largest number also are hardy, being 

 natives of the temperate and colder parts of the earth ; or if 

 found in the tropical regions, it is generally at such high eleva- 

 tions as to surround them with climatal conditions similar to 

 those of more northern latitudes. One of the shrubby genera, 

 and most of the herbaceous, are plentifully represented in the 

 flora of our own country; and in bygone days, before the 

 modern fashion of bedding-out was thought of, the style and 

 beauty of the flower-gardens of this country greatly depended 

 on the merits of various members of this large family. 



Adonis is a small genus, comprising a few hardy perennials, 

 with some annual and biennial plants. Its general character is 

 well illustrated in the well-known hardy annual Flos-Adonis^ 

 an improved variety of A. autiunnalis ; but in some of the peren- 

 nial species the flowers are larger and more showy than in it. 

 There is scarcely any variety of colour in the perennial section 

 of the genus, all being yellow in one shade or another; nor is 



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