12 THE RANUNCULUS FAMILY. 



IX. HELLEBORUS. HELLEBORE. 



Perennial herbs, with palmately or pedately divided leaves, of a 

 paler green and more rigid than in most other Ranunculaceous plants. 

 Sepals 5, large, greenish (in the British species), remaining till the 

 fruit is nearly ripe. Real petals 8 to 10, very small, tubular, 2-lobed at 

 the top. Stamens numerous. Carpels several, rather large, each with 

 several seeds. 



A well-marked genus, but not numerous in species, chiefly south 

 European and west Asiatic. 



Flowers usually 3 or 4. Sepnls spreading 1. II. viritfis. 



Flowers many, in a large panicle, with large ovate bracts. Sepals 



converging . 2. U.fastidut. 



The Winter Aconite (see p. 2) was formerly considered as a species of 

 fldleborus. It is a small plant, with narrow, petal-like, yellow sepals, 

 surrounded byan involucre of green divided leaves. The white Christmas 

 Rose is a true Helleborus (II. niger) from south-eastern Europe. 



1. H. viridis, Linn. (fig. 26). Green H., Bear' s-foot. Radical leaves 

 large, on long stalks, divided into 7 to 1 1 oblong, acute, toothed segments, 

 3 to 4 inches long, the central ones free, the lateral ones on each side 

 connected together at the base so as to form a pedate leaf. Stem 

 scarcely exceeding the leaves, bearing usually 2, 3, or 4 large drooping 

 flowers of a pale yellowish-green, and at each ramification a sessile leaf, 

 much less divided than the radical ones, and the segments usually 

 digitate. 



In pastures and thickets, especially in calcareous soils, and about old 

 walls and ruins in western and central Europe, but not extending to the 

 eastern frontier, nor far to the north. A native of the south and south- 

 east of England, and naturalised elsewhere. Fl. early spring. 



2. H. fcetidus, Linn. (fig. 27). Fetid H., Setter-wort. Lower leaves 

 not all radical, but mostly raised on the short perennial base of the stems, 

 forming a larger and thicker tuft than in //. viridis, their segments 

 narrower, less toothed, stiffer, and more shining, their outer lobes at a 

 less distance from the central ones. Flower-stem above a foot high, 

 with a large close panicle of drooping flowers, of a pale green, often 

 tinged with purple, the concave sepals giving them a globular form. 

 Bracts at the ramifications of the panicle ovate and entire, or shortly 

 2-lobed at the summit. 



In stony places, chiefly in limestone districts, in southern Europe, ex- 

 tending here and there into central Europe, but neither a northern nor 

 an eastern plant. In England it is wild in. Hampshire and Sussex, but, 

 like the last, it is in most cases an introduced plant. Fl. early spring. 



X. AQUILEGIA. COLUMBINE. 



Perennial herbs, with the leaves chiefly radical, ternately divided, 

 with distinct stalked segments or leaflets. Sepals 5, coloured. Petals 

 5, each terminating below in a horn-shaped spur, projecting below the 

 calyx. Stamens numerous. Carpels 5, each with several seeds. 



A small but very distinct genus, widely spread over the north tem- 

 perate regions of both hemispheres, especially in mountain districts. 



1. A. vulgaris, Linn. (fig. 28). Common C. Radical and lower 

 liaves in a large *,uft, each with a long stalk, once, twice or even 



