ADO 



ADO 



tumnalis, Common Autumnal Red Adonis; Q.A. 

 aestivalis, Summer Tall Yellow-flowering Adonis; 

 3. A. vernalis, .Spring-flowering Yellow Perennial 

 Adonis ; 4. A. Apennina, Apennine Adonis; 

 b. A. < apensis, Cape Adonis; 6. A. vesicatoria, 

 Blister Adonis. 



The first or these species lias the stalk about a 

 fool high and upright, somewhat angular, hol- 

 low, oi a purplish colour, hoary, and branched 

 quite to the bottom ; thebranches being generally 

 taller than the stalk which produces the first 

 flower. The leaves are alternate, of a yellowish 

 green colour ; the lower ones petioled, and the 

 upper ones sessile ; all superdecompound : the 

 segments numerous, capillary, pointed, and 

 shining on the under side. The leaflets of the cup 

 subovate, unequal, and of a purple colour, shorter 

 than the corolla; the tips being toothed, and 

 appearing as if bitten. The corolla consists of 

 eight petals, seldom more, but often fewer, un- 

 equal, obcordate, the tip being irregularly notch- 

 ed, and of a scarlet colour, with the bottom in- 

 ternally black, but externally greenish. The sta- 

 mina are about forty in number; the filaments 

 filiform and white : the antherae ovate, obtuse 

 and compressed, of a blackish purple colour ; 

 the pollen being saffron-coloured. The head of 

 the germs is short, and somewhat conical. The 

 stigmas pointed, the points being turned back. 

 The seeds are somewhat angular, pointed, reticu- 

 late and wrinkled. It is a native of most of the 

 southern parts of Europe. It now also grows in 

 tins country, in many parts near London. 



In the second, which is by some supposed 

 scarcely distinct from the former, but by others 

 is said' to differ from it in having the flower 

 smaller, with the colour a higher red; the 

 branches are more open, and the fruit is of an 

 oval form. The petals are from five to eight. It 

 is a native of the southern countries of Europe, 

 and flowers in May and June. 



There is a variety of this which has a pale 

 yellow corolla. 



The third species has the stem branched from 

 the bottom, hairy, but finally becoming bald, 

 streaked, scarcely a foot high, equal, or not 

 swelling at the joints. It has several leaves, 

 which burst forth together from the root early in 

 the spring, and cover the young stem ; afterwards 

 some of these sit at the bottom of the stem, 

 whilst others are placed at the insertion of the 

 branches, on very wide long sheaths, terminated 

 by a multifid leaf, only one-third of the length 

 of the sheath. Hence, properly speaking, there 

 are no root-leaves. The stem- and branch-leaves 

 are entirely different from the former; for the 

 nearer they approach to the top of the stem the 

 more decompounded they become, which is un- 



usual. Their sheaths are very short, and half- 

 stcm-clasping ; all the leaflets scarcely exceeding 

 two lines in length, but winch are rigid and 

 pungent. There are no calluses at the insertion 

 of the leaflets. The peduncle terminating, one- 

 flowered, and half an inch in length. The cup, 

 which scarcely emerges from the uppermost leaf, 

 has the leaflets of a yellowish green or a sordid 

 colour, hirsute, concave, or flat, lanceolate- 

 ovate, and half the length of the corolla. The 

 petals are more narrowed or lanceolate than in 

 the following species, so as even to be linear. 

 The seeds are thicker at the tip, hirsute, with a 

 very slender dagger-point below the tip. Its 

 large yellow flow ers are produced at the end of 

 March or the beginning of April; and the seeds 

 ripen in August. It is a native of the moun- 

 tainous parts of Germany. 



In the fourth the. stem is a foot and a half in 

 height; in the young plant ash-coloured, but 

 in a more advanced growth bald and entirely 

 smooth, marked with lines; the branches be- 

 ing alternate and thicker at the joints. The 

 root-leaves are very large, almost orbicular, 

 four-fold and pinnate : the pinnas opposite, pin- 

 nules alternate : leaflets lanceolate-linear, acu- 

 minate, smooth and even ; all the insertions 

 marked with a white callus : the petiole half a 

 foot long, grooved, sheathing the stem at its 

 base. The lowest stem-leaf, at the base of the 

 lowest branch, resembles the root -leaves, but is 

 smaller: the sheath is wide, embracing the stem; 

 but the petiole is scarcely half an inch in length. 

 The leaves on the stem and branches are hardly 

 petioled : they half embrace the stem, have 

 scarcely any sheaths, and the pinnules are so 

 near to each other that the leaves in general 

 seem to be disitate-multifid. The sheaths do not 

 lose their pubescence. The flower terminating, 

 one on each branch : the petals obovate or lance- 

 olate-ovate : the cups hairy, subglobose, coloured, 

 concave, with lines or streaks of a different 

 colour. The peduncles are grooved, but the stem 

 is not. The seeds are ovate, surrounded with a 

 rim, having a dagger-point curved back, and 

 smooth. 



The fifth species has the leaves radical ; the 

 leaflets rigid; and the petioles rough with hairs. 

 The scapes leafless, round, hairy, and terminated 

 by a compound umbel. The universal and partial 

 involucra are six-leaved and lanceolate. Partial 

 peduncles, three outer, three inner, and one 

 central, bearing one flower ; the rest four- 

 flow cred. The cup is ovate-oblong, concave, 

 whitish ; petals lanceolate, white, twice the 

 length of the cup ; the filaments linear, half the 

 length of the petals : the antherne two, ovate and 

 small : the styles bent outward, the length of 



