167 



EXOGEN/E. 



Thalamifiorce. 



1. RANUNCULACEJE. 



Sepals 3-6 mostly imbricate in oestivation and rarely 

 persistent. Petals 3-15 distinct, in one or more rows, 

 sometimes unequal but rarely absent by abortion. Sta- 

 mens indefinite, hypogynous, with adnate and mostly 

 reversed anthers having a longitudinal dehiscence. 

 Pistilla numerous on a torus. Ovaria sometimes united 

 and many-celled ; but at others distinct and one-ovuled. 

 Fruit, dry akenia, or baccate, or follicular, with one or 

 two valves. Seeds exarillate with a solid corneous albu- 

 men, a minute embryo and cotyledons foliaceous during 

 germination. 



Herbaceous, very seldom shrubby ; the leaves generally 

 divided, having a dilated half sheathing petiole, exstipu- 

 late ; inflorescence variable. 



Allied to Magnoliacese, a tribe not noticed by us, as it 

 contains no officinal plant of the Ph. L., but includes in 

 a section of it the Wintera aromatica of the Ph. E. 



Geographical relations. Temperate zones chiefly, 

 Europe containing one-fifth of the whole ; but occur in 

 Japan, etc., where they become alpine. 



Properties. In general poisonous, ranking under the 

 irritant and narcotico- acrid divisions of Beck ; the poi- 



