RAN 



become very dry at top, especially if it was dug 

 <vet, and suffered to lie till the clods have be- 

 come very dry and hard, in which case it will 

 not rake well until mellowed or pulverised by 

 a shower of rain. But common light garden 

 ground generally rakes best when "fresh clug, 

 perhaps the same day, or day after at the furth- 

 est, before dried too much by the sun and wind, 

 or rendered wet by rain, &c. The operation 

 should, however, be performed when the ground 

 is in such order as the clods will readily break 

 and fall to pieces under the rake without clog- 

 ging much thereto. 



KAMPlOiXS. See Campanula. 



RAMSONS. See Allium. 



RANDIA. See Gardi;nia. 



RANUNCULUS, a genus containing plants 

 of the hardy herbaceous perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Poli/andr'ia 

 Pulygjnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 MultisUiquce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 leaved perianth : leaflets ovate, concave, colour- 

 ed a little, deciduous : the corolla has five petals, 

 blunt, shining, with small claws: the nectary 

 a little cavity just above the claw, in each petal : 

 the stamina have very many filaments, shorter 

 by half than the corolla : anthers upright, ob- 

 long, blunt, twin : the pistillum has numerous 

 germs, collected into a head : styles none : stig- 

 mas retlex, very small : there is no pericarpium : 

 the receptacle connecting the seeds by very mi- 

 nute peduncles : the seeds very many, irregular, 

 varying in figure, naked, with a reflex point. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . R. Asialkus, 

 Persian Crowfoot, or Garden Ranunculus; 2. E. 

 aconit'ifoUus, Aconite-leaved Crowfoot ; 3. R. 

 acris, Upright Meadow Crowfoot; 4. R. repens, 

 Creeping Crowfoot ; 5. R. amplaxicaiiUs, Em- 

 bracing-leaved Crowfoot. 



There are other species that may be culti- 

 vated for variety. 



The first has an upright branched stem, pu- 

 bescent, round, as are also the peduncles : the 

 lower leaves simple, lobed, gashed, acute, pu- 

 bescent underneath, as are also the petioles: 

 the root is composed of many thick fleshy fangs 

 or fibres, uniting at top into a head ; from these 

 are sent forth many slender long fibres, strikino- 

 deep in the ground : from the top arise several 

 leaves, composed of three, six, or nine lobes of 

 irregular forms, and cut at top into various seg- 

 ments ; between these arise the flower-stalks, 

 about a foot high, taper, hairy, and branching 

 out at a little distance from the root : stem- 

 leaves dividing into three parts, these again cut, 

 and generally terminated by trifid points : the 

 petioles are embracing at the base ; the leaves 



Vol. II. 



RAN 



are all hairy ; the lower ones much larger and 

 more compound than the upper: the flowers are 

 terminating, with the stem naked for a consi- 

 derable length below them. They vary much in 

 size and colour, and the petals are frequently of 

 difltrent colours on the two surfaces. They ap- 

 pear in May; and in moderate seasons, or where 

 they are shaded from the sun in the heat of the 

 day, there will be a succession at least during a 

 month : the seeds ripen in Julv. It is a natfve 

 of the Levant. 



The varieties are exceedinglv numerous, being 

 sometimes divided into two'c'lasscs, as the Old 

 Turkey kinds and the Persian kinds, the varieties 

 of the latter amounting to many hundreds, and 

 being considerably more various, rich, and beau- 

 tiful in colour, than the others. 



In the former of these they rise with a strong 

 generally unbranching stalk a foot high, termi- 

 nated by one large double flower, "sometimes 

 emitting one or two smaller ones from its sides, 

 and of which there are red -flowered, scarlet- 

 flowered, yellow-flowered, and scarlet turban- 

 flowered, &c., being seldom tinged with ditfer- 

 ent colours, as in the Persian kimls. 



The latter rise eight or nine inches high, ge- 

 nerally branching from the bottom, producing 

 from five or ten to twenty or more tlowers on 

 each root, and of which there are single-flow- 

 ered, semi-double-flowered, full-double-flow- 

 ered, large and full like a double rose, being ge- 

 nerally filled with petals to the very centre, 

 forming a regular globular body, of admirable 

 elegance, of all sorts of the most beautiful co- 

 lours in difierent varieties, and of numerous de- 

 grees of deeper and lighter shades, stripes, and 

 tinges in the several colours. 



Martyn observes, that" the varieties produced 

 of late years from the seeds of semi-double flow- 

 ers are unbounded ; and that Mr. Maddock re- 

 marks that they are more numerous than of any 

 other flower. Accordingly his calalojjuc, he 

 says, boasts nearly eight hundred, all w7th their 

 proper names; rang'ed under the heads of — 

 Dark and Dark Purple; Light Purple and Gray, 

 &c. ; Crimson, ,&c. ; Reds, &c. ; Rusv, &c'. ; 

 Orange, &c. ; Yellow and Yellow-Spotted, gcc; 

 White and White-Spotted, &c.; Olive, &:c. ; 

 Purple and Coftee-Striped, &c.; Red and Yel- 

 low-Striped; Red and White-Striped." 



According to Mr. Maddock, " a fine Ranun- 

 culus should have a strong sf-aight stem, from 

 eight to twelve inches high. The flower should 

 be of a hemispherical form, at least two inches 

 in diameter, consisting of numerous petals gra- 

 dually diminishing in size to the centre, lying 

 over each other, so as neither.to be too close nor 

 too much separated, but having more of a per- 

 2 U 



