528 



PART IV. CLASSIFICATION. 



quently petaloid : ovaries numerous, each, containing a single suspended 

 or ascending anatropous ovule 5 fruit consists of a number of achenes. 



The genus Clematis consists of shrubs which creep, or climb by their 

 petioles, and have opposite leaves, and a petaloid usually valvate calyx. 

 Clematis Vitalba, the Old Man's Beard, is common in hedges; it has a 

 greenish-white calyx, and fruits with long feathery styles ; C. Viticella, 

 patens, and others are cultivated as decorative plants. Atragene alpirta, 

 occurring in the Alps and in Siberia, has its external stamens converted 

 into petaloid staminodes. 



Thalictrum ; the species of this genus, as T. majus^ minus, flavum , and 



FIG. 312. Flowers of Kanunenlaceaa : s peduncle; fc sepals; c petals; a stamens; 

 / carpels ; n stigma (all of natural size or slightly magnified). A Flower of Anemone 

 Pa.lsa.Hlla in longitudinal sn^tion ; h epicalyx ; t receptacle. B Gynaeceum of Ranunculus : 

 * receptacle with the points of insertion of the stamens which have been removed : C flower 

 seen from below. D Flower of Hclleborus viridis. E Flower of Aconitum Napellus : h 

 bracteoles ; V hooded posterior sepal the lateral sepal on this side is removed. 



alpinum, the Meadow-Rues, have stems well covered with leaves, and 

 flowers with an inconspicuous, fugacious, 4-5-leaved calyx, and a flat 

 receptacle. 



Anemone has an hemispherical receptacle (Fig. 342 A t), and a petaloid, 

 usually 5-6-leaved calyx. In most of the species the underground 

 rhizome elongates into an erect scape which bears a single whorl of three 

 bracteoles forming an epicalyx (p. 443), beneath the terminal flower. In 



