438 



THE RANALES 



orders form a natural transition from the primitive flowers of 

 the willows and beeches to the large flowers of the next order 

 with their showy perianths, though the structure of the flower 

 is not very indicative of a relationship between them. 



142. Ranales, the Buttercup or Crowfoot Order. This large 

 and interesting order includes a great variety of our common 

 plants, herbs, and trees, as the white and yellow water lilies 

 (Nymphaea and Castalia), buttercups (Ranunculus), marsh 

 marigold (Caltha), windflower (Anemone), Hepatica, rue (Thalic- 

 trum), columbine (Aquilegia), larkspur (Delphinium), monks- 



FIG. 305. A common type of the Ranales, Ranunculus repens: A, habit 

 of the plant. B, early stage of flowering, the stamens clustered about the 

 stigmas. C, late stage of flowering, nearly all the stamens bent over towards 

 the petals, having discharged their spores. D, petal with nectar gland at 

 base. E, fruit consisting. of numerous spirally-arranged akenes. 



hood (Aconitum), may apple (Podophyllum), magnolia, tulip tree 

 (Liriodendron) , Sassafras, spice bush (Benzoin), etc. In this 

 order we have again reached the point, just as in the monocoty- 

 ledons (see Liliales), where the flowers are more usually solitary 

 and conspicuous, owing to the development of large, showy 

 perianths. While the perianth is more differentiated than in the 

 lilies it is noteworthy in the majority of the forms that the flower 

 has not reached the state where the calyx is clearly separable from 

 the corolla. The flowers are very simple, as is indicated by 

 the regular and hypogynous arrangement of the parts (Fig. 



