78 ON SEEDLINGS 



KANUNCULACKE. 



Bentham et Hooker, Genera Plantarum, i. 1. 



Fruit and Seed. The fruits of Ranunculacese are either 

 achenes often more or less pointed, sometimes feathery 

 (Clematis, some species of Anemone), or follicles, sometimes 

 united into a capsule (Nigella), or one- to few-seeded berries 

 (Actaea). 



The seeds are erect, pendulous, or horizontal ; ' the embryo 

 is minute except in Trautvetteria. 



The shape of the seed varies with that of the carpels 

 and the number of ovules. There are four principal typas : 

 rounded and smooth, granular, angular, and winged. 



When the fruit is an achene (Ranunculus, Clematis, Ane- 

 mone) the shape of the seed conforms to the interior of the 

 achene. 



In Thalictrum the achenes are ribbed, in Ranunculus they 

 are wrinkled (water forms), or smooth, in some slightly hairy, 

 in others (R. arvensis, R. parviflorus) covered with tubercles, 

 or spines which are often more or less hooked, and probably 

 serve to promote the dispersion of the seeds. In some (R. 

 scapigerus, R. multiscapus, &c.) the style itself is hooked. In 

 other cases dispersion is aided by the presence of wings, or by 

 a long feathery process consisting of the persistent style. This 

 also serves a useful purpose by fixing the seed to the ground 

 and thus enabling the seedling to emerge from the testa ; as, 

 for instance, in Clematis graveolens. 



1 The ovules are anatropous, either solitary, erect, and with a ventral raphe 

 (Ranunculeae), or pendulous with a dorsal raphe (Clematidea?, Anemoneae). 

 The result of this is that in both the pollen tube has direct access to the micro- 

 pyle, which would not otherwise be the case. 



