li A N 



)l A N 



become verv dry at top, especially it it was dug 

 Wet, and suffered to lie till the clods have be- 

 come very dry and hard, in which ease it will 

 not rake well until mellowed or pulverised by 

 a shower irf rain. Put common light garden 

 ground generally rakes best when Fresh dug, 

 perhaps the same c'.av. ur day after at the furth- 

 est; before dried too much by the sun and wind, 

 pi re'.uiered wet lie rain. 8c<S. The operation 

 should, however, be performed when the ground 

 is in such order as the clods will reaildv break 

 and fall to pieces under the rake without clog- 

 L'lns: much thereto. 



RAMPIONS. See Campanula. 



HAM SONS. See Ai.r.n v. 



P.WIMA. See Glsrobnia. 



RANUNCULI S, a genus containing plants 

 of the hardv herbaceous perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pobjavdria 

 I'olygbiia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Multisiliquee. 



The characters are : that the calvx is a five- 

 leaved perianth : leaflets ovate, concave, colour- 

 ed a little, deciduous : the corolla has live petals, 

 blunt, shining, with small claws: the nectary 

 a little cavity just above the claw, in each petal: 

 the stamina have very many filaments, shorter 

 bv half than the corolla : anthers upright, ob- 

 long, blunt, twin: the pistillum has numerous 

 germs, collected into a head : styles none : stig- 

 mas reriex, verv small : there is no pericarpium: 

 the receptacle connecting the seeds bv vcrv mi- 

 nute peduncles : the seeds verv nianv, irregular, 

 varvintr in figure, naked, with a reflex point. 



The species cultivated are: 1. R. A sialic// «■, 

 Persian Crowfoot, or Garden Ranunculus; 2. R. 

 aconi/ifo/ius, Aconite-leaved Crowfoot ; 3. R. 

 acrU, Upright Meadow Crowfoot ; 4. R. repens, 

 Creeping Crowfoot ; 5. R. amplexicautis, Em- 

 bracing -leaved Crowfoot. 



There are other species that may be culti- 

 vated for varielv. 



The tirst has. an upright branched stem, pu- 

 bescent, round, as are also the peduncles : the 

 lower leaves simple, lobed, gashtd, acute, pu- 

 bescent underneath, as are aKo the pelicses: 

 the root is composed of many thick Beany fangs 

 or fibres, unitinsr at top into a head ; From these 

 are sent forth many slender long fibres', striking- 

 deep in the ground : from the \op arise several 

 leaves, composed of three, six, or nine robe* of 

 irregular forms, and cut at top into various - 

 ments; between these arise the flow* r-stalks, 

 about a font high, taper, hairy, ami branehmg 

 out at a little distance from the root: stem- 

 leaves dividing into three parts, these again cut, 

 and generally terminated by trilid points: the 

 petioles are embracuitr at the base : the leaves 

 Vol. II. 



are all hairy ; the lower ones nmeli l.itrrer and 

 more compound than the unpen the flowers art 

 terminating, with the stem naked for a consi- 

 derable length below them. They vary much in 

 MBe and colour, am! the petals are frequent!. ,.) 

 different colours on the two surfaces, Thev ap- 

 pear in May; and in utodenl -. or where 



they are shaded from the sun m the heat of tl.. 

 dav, there will he a succession at least during a 

 month : the seeds ripen in July. It is a i 

 of the levant. 



The varieties are exceedingly numerous, being 

 sometimes divided into I . is theOlel 



Turkey kinds and the Persian kinds, the varieii. s 

 of the latter amour.:::, vi; to many hundreds, and 

 -iderabiy more various, rich, and beau- 

 tiful in colour, than the others. 



In the former of these they rise with a strong 

 generally unbranchmg stalk a foot hi<rh, termi- 

 nated by one large double flower, sometimes 

 emitting one or two smaller ones from its 

 -and of which there are red-flowered, searlet- 

 ilowered, yellow-flowered, and scarlet turban- 

 flowered, bee, being seldom tinged with differ- 

 ent colours, as in the Persian kinds. 



The latter rise eight or nine inches high, pr- 

 nerally branchins; from the bottom, producing 

 from five or ten to twenty or more flowers on 

 each root, and of which there are single-flow- 

 ered, semi-do .iblc-huwered, full -double-flow- 

 ered, large and full like a double rose, being ge- 

 nerally filled with petals to the very centre, 

 forming a regular globular body, of admirable 

 elegance, of all sorts of the most beautiful co- 

 lours indifferent varieties, an 1 of numerous de- 

 grees of deeper and lighter shades, stripes, and 

 tinges in the several colour-. 



Martyn observes, that" the varieties produced 

 of late years from the seeds -f semi-double flow- 

 ers are unbounded; and that Mr. Maddock re- 

 marks that they are more numerous than of any 

 other flower. Accordingly his catalogue, he 



. beasts marly eight hundred, all with 

 proper names'; ranged tmder th of — 



•nd Dark Pur 

 ; Crimson. 

 Orange, ccc. ; Yellow an d Ycllow-rniotti cl, &c. - 

 White and White- Sfiflfiwd, kc.; (' 

 Purple and Coffcv-Stri" d VtU 



low -Striped ; Ked and White-. 



According to Mr. Maddock. •• a fine 1 K:i'i':n- 

 culus should have a forcing ■ from 



eight to twelve inches hieh. The riov. «r s 

 be of a hemispherical form, at i 

 in diameter, consisting ol numc: 

 dually diminishing in size to the centre*, lvin^ 

 over euch other, -u as neither 10 I > 

 too much . but having i 



