2 RANUNCULACE.fi. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



DIVISION I. POLYP^TALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



Floral envelopes double, that is, consisting of both calyx and co- 

 rolla ; the petals not united with each other.* 



ORDER 1. RANUNCULACE^E. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



Herbs (or woody vines} with a colorless acrid juice, polypetalous, or apeta- 

 lous with the calyx often colored like a corolla, hypogynous ; the sepals, petals, 

 numerous stamens, and many or few (rarely single') pistils all distinct and 

 unconnected. Flowers regular or irregular. Sepals 3-15. Petals 3- 

 15, or wanting. Stamens indefinite, rarely few : anthers short. Fruits 

 either dry pods, or seed-like (achenia), or berries, 1 - several-seeded. 

 Seeds anatropous, with fleshy albumen and a minute embryo. Stipules 

 none. Leaves mostly dissected, their stalks dilated at the base. (A large 

 family, mostly of acrid plants, some of them acrid-narcotic poisons.) 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



TRIBE I. CL.EMATIDEJE. Sepals valvate in the bud, or with the edges bent inwards. 

 Petals none, or small and stamen-like. Achenia numerous, tailed with the feathery or 

 hairy styles. Seed solitary, suspended. Vines : leaves all opposite. 



1. ATRAGENE. Petals several, small, and resembling sterile stamens. 



2. CLEMATIS. Petals none. 



H. ANEMONE./E. Sepals imbricated in the Dud. Petals none, or very small 

 and stamen-like. Achenia numerous or several. Seed solitary. Stem-leaves often op- 

 posite or whorled, forming an involucre. 



* Seed suspended. 



8. PULSATILLA. Achenia bearing long plumose tails. Petals resembling sterile stamens. 

 4. ANEMONE. Achenia merely pointed, numerous, not ribbed nor inflated. Involucre re- 



mote from the flower, and resembling the other leaves. 

 6. HEPATICA. Achenia several, not ribbed. Involucre close to the flower, of 3 simple leaves, 



and resembling a calyx. 

 t>. THALICTRUM. Achenia 4-10, ribbed, grooved, or inflated. Involucre none, or leaf-like. 



# * Seed erect. 

 7 TRAUTVETTERIA. Achenia inflated and 4-angled. Involucre none 



TRIBE III. RANUNCULEJE. Sepals imbricated in the bud. Petals evident, orten 



with a scale or pore inside. Achenia numerous. Seed solitary. 

 R. RANUNCULUS. Sepals not appendaged. Aohenia in a head. Seed erect. 



9. MYOSURUS. Sepals spurred at the base. Achenia in a long spike. Seed suspended. 



TRIBE IV. HEL,I^EBORI1VE^E. Sepals imbricated in the bud, deciduous, rarely 

 persistent, petal-like. Petals (nectaries of the earlier botanists) tubular, irregular, or 

 2-lipped, often none. Pods (follicles) few, rarely single, few - fleveral-seeded. Leave* 

 all alternate. 



* Flower regular. Pods several-seeded. Herbs. 



10. ISOPYRUM. Petals none (in our species). Pods few. Leaves compound. 



11. CALTHA. Petals none Pods several. Leaves kidney-shaped. 



* In many exceptional cases some species or some genera belonging to polypetaloui orders 

 are destitute of petals , as Clematis, Anemone, our Isopyri aa, and sther plant* of the Crow* 

 foot Family. 



