2 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



ORDER I. RANUNCULA'CE^l. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



Herbs or woody climbers, with an acrid colourless juice. 

 Parts of the flower separate from each other. Coroila some- 

 times wanting. Stamens numerous. Pistil (with one or 

 two exceptions) apocarpous. Fruit an achene, follicle, or 

 berry. Leaves exstipulate, with the blades usually dis- 

 sected, and petioles spreading at the base. 



Synopsis of tlie Genera. 



1. denial is. Real petals none or stamen -like. Coloured sepals 4 or 



more, valvate in the bud. Fruit an achene, with the long and 

 feathery style attached. Leaves all opposite. Plant climbing by 

 the bending of the petioles. 



2. Auemo'iie. Petals none or stamen-like. Coloured sepals imbri- 



cated in the bud. Achenes many, in a head, pointed or tailed, 

 not ribbed. Stem-leaves opposite or whorled, forming an invo- 

 lucre remote from the flower. 



3. Hepat'ica. Petals none. Coloured sepals 6-12, whitish or bluish. 



Achenes many, not ribbed. Leaves all radical. An involucre of 

 3 leaves close to the flower, and liable to be mistaken for a calyx. 



4. Tlialic Iriiin. Petals none. Coloured sepals 4 or more, greenish. 



Achenes several, angled or grooved. No involucre. Stem-leaves 

 alternate, decompound. Flowers in panicles or corymbs, mostly 

 dioecious. 



5. Myosu'rus. Petals 5, white, with slender claws. Sepals 5, spurred 



at the base. Achenes in a long slender spike. Small plants with 

 tufted narrow root-leaves, and 1-flowered scapes. 



6. Itn n ii ncii I us. Sepals 5, deciduous. Petals generally 5, each with 



a pit or little scale on the inside of the claw. Achenes many, in 

 heads, short-pointed. Stem-leaves alternate. Flowers solitary 

 or corymbed, mostly yellow, rarely white. 



7. < al Ilia. Petals none. Sepals 5-9, yellow. Fruit a many-seeded 



follicle. Leaves large, glabrous, heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, 

 mostly crenate. Stem hollow and furrowed. 



8. Cop'tis. Sepals 5-7, white, deciduous. Petals 5-7, yellow with 



slender claws, and somewhat tubular at the apex. Carpels 3-7, 

 on slender stalks. Fruit a follicle. Flowers on naked scapes. 

 Leaves radical, shining, divided into three wedge-shaped leaflets, 

 sharply toothed. Root fibrous, golden yellow. 



9. Aquilc gia. Sepals 5, coloured. Petals 5, each a long hollow spur. 



Carpels 5. Follicles erect, many-seeded. Flowers very showy, 

 terminating the branches. Leaves decompound. 



