14 EANUNCULACE.E. 



Italian woods, and also of our gardens, is a much-valued 

 member of this family.* It is told of one of the Mayors of 

 our large towns that when first this flower was introduced 

 into our English gardens he exceedingly coveted some of the 

 seed. This he offered to buy, but the monopolist refused to 

 sell : so his Worship tried finesse to gain his purpose, and 

 proposed to the florist that, as he would not part with his 

 Anemones, the Town Council should come in state to see 

 them. This was esteemed a great honour ; and the Mayor 

 managed in his progress to drag the skirt of his velvet robes 

 over the bed of Anemones. The feathery seeds adhered as 

 a matter of course ; the blooms of these flowers coming in 

 such long succession and the fruit ripening fast, so that flower 

 and fruit were clustered together ; and no sooner did he reach 

 home than with most unlordly haste he picked off the seeds 

 and sowed them. The next year his garden was adorned with 

 the coveted flowers ! 



The Adonis (A. autumnalis, or Pheasant's-eye, Plate I., 

 fig. 4), stands next in order to the Anemones ; its little 

 crimson flower gleaming from a miniature thicket of inter- 

 lacing leaves. These leaves are frequently subdivided and 

 very narrow, and the crimson cup is too small to be showy ; 

 it frequents corn fields, and is a constant ornament of old- 

 fashioned gardens. 



We now come to the true Ranunculus family, the head of 

 the clan, called in English Crowfoots. Here the sepals and 

 petals are both present, their number varying from three to 

 six ; the carpels are numerous, and end in a kind of horn. 

 We have already noticed the poisonous nature of the whole 

 order ; this family of it possesses the quality in an especial 

 degree. Old Gerarde thus writes of it: "There.be divers 

 sortes or kindes of these pernicious herbes comprehended 

 under the name of Ranunculus, or Crowfoote, whereof most 



* Varieties of this and other species are described by Tournefort as studding 

 the fields in the islands of the Archipelago. 



