243 



common to several species of Ranunculus. It is a native of Marti- 

 nico; flowering in November and December. 



The twenty-fourth species has the scape round, jointed, villosc, 

 simple, a foot high, sustaining one or two flowers: the leaf some- 

 what channelled, striated, villose, the length of the scape: the spathes 

 acute, striated, smooth, two inches long: the peduncles subancipi- 

 tal, one-flowered, smooth: all the petals united at the base: the 

 three outer several limes bigger than the others, ovate, obtuse en- 

 tire: the three inner much narrower and shorter by half, lanceolate, 

 acute. This beautiful flower is orange-coloured, with black spots 

 and dots at the base, and a heart-shaped blue spot above the base, 

 which at bottom is tomentose and black. It is a native of the 

 Cape. 



The twenty -fifth has a tuberous root; there arise from it five or 

 six long narrow four-cornered leaves, and from between these the 

 stalk, supporting one small flower, of a dark purple colour. It flow- 

 ers in April, but does not produce seeds in this climate. It is a na- 

 tive of the Levant. 



Culture.- Most of the sorts may be readily increased, by parting 

 the roots or separating the off-sets from the bulbs, and planting them 

 out in the situations where they are to flower: the first sort in the 

 autumn, or very early in the spring, and the latter in the close of 

 summer, when the leaves decay, managing them in the same manner 

 as other bulbs. As they increase and spread rapidly in their roots, 

 they should be divided and taken off every two or three years. 



New varieties of the different sorts may be raised from seed, by 

 sowing it in the autumn in a bed of light sandy mould. The plants 

 come up in the following spring, and in the autumn may be trans- 

 planted where they are to grow. They flower a year or two after- 

 wards. 



The bulbous-rooted sorts succeed best in such soils as are of the 

 light, sandy, loamy kind. 



The last sort answers most perfectly in such aspects as are towards 

 the east, the roots being prevented from going too deep. 



As the second sort is liable to be injured by severe winters, a 



