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PART III. 



THE ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM ; OR THE 

 DESCRIPTION, HISTORY, PROPERTIES, AND USES, OF THE 

 HARDY TREES AND SHRUBS OF BRITAIN, INDIGENOUS AND 

 FOREIGN. 



Trees :ind shrubs, in common with all other perfect plants, are arranged by 

 botanists in two <irand divisions; viz, the Exogenous, or Dicotyledonous, plants, 

 the stems of which increase from without; and tlie Endogenous, or Mcmocoty- 

 ledonous, plants, the stems of which increase from within. The first class in- 

 cludes all the hardy trees and slirubs in Britain, with the exceptionof shrubs 

 of the genera Yucca, 5mllax, if liscus, and one or two others ; and this circum- 

 stance, as well as the fact, that, the trees and shrubs of Britain are comprised 

 in a very few orders and tribes, has determined us to neglect the great 

 scientific divisions of the natural system, and to adopt only those of the orders 

 and tribes. We proceed, tiierefore, with the orders of the natural system, 

 much in the same series as that in which they are laid down in De CandoUe's 

 Prodromus, Don's Miller's Dictionary, and in our Horhis Brilamiicus, giving 

 tlie orders as chapters, and the tribes as sections, and including in our dis- 

 tinctive character of each order, tlie characteristic of the division to which it 

 belongs: that is to say, whether to Dichlamydeaj ThalanuflorEe, Dichlamydea; 

 Calycidorae, Dichiamydese Corolliflorae, or Monochlamydeae. 



CHAP. I. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER ifANUNCULA^E^. 



The term J?anunculiceae is applied to this order, because all the plants con- 

 tiiined in it have, more or less, the character of the genus iJaniinculus. The 

 diagnostic, or distinctive character, of the order is thus given by Dr. Lind- 

 lev°_»Polypetalous dicotyledons, with hypogynous stamens [that is, 

 stamens under the pistil] ; anthers bursting by longitudinal slits ; several 

 distinct simple carpella [fruits] ; exstipulate leaves, sheathing at their base; 

 solid albumen; and seeds without arillus." (Introd. to the Nat. Syst., 



The only ligneous plants belonging to this order are, some species of 

 Clematis and ^tragene, one of Paionia, and the genus Xanthorhlza. The 

 stems of the species alluded to, though they are botanically considered as 

 ligneous, yet have very little claim to the appellation in the common sense of 

 the word ; and, indeed, with the exception of the stems of Clematis Vitalba, 

 C. Flanmiula, and one or two other species of Clematis and Xanthorhiza, 

 the stems of the plants belonging to this order might be almost called sub- 

 herbaceous. The species are chlelly natives of Europe and North America ; 

 but some are from India, China, and Japan. The iianunculaceaj are con- 

 sidered to indicate a cold damp climate, and to be acrid, caustic, and 

 poisonous, though the root of the peony is said to be antis[iasmodic. All 

 the plants of the order, with the exception perhaps of a few of the species, 

 seem to be extremely tenacious of life. The tubers of the common ranun- 

 culus and anemone, if kept dry, will vegetate at the end of two, and even 

 three, years ; and the seeds of most of the species, more especially those of 

 the Clematidea?, may be kept a number of years without impaiinng their vital 

 powers. The tribes containing ligneous plants are two, Clematideffi and 

 Pxonidce(e. The last tribe belongs to a division of the order cimsisting of 

 what are considered as spurious /fanunculacea;. It includes the ligneous 

 trenera Xanthorhiza and Pxonia, which even a superficial observer nniy 



