231 



'ART III. 



THE ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM ; OR THE 

 DESCRIPTION, HISTORY, PROPERTIES, AND USES, OF THE HARDY 

 TREES AND SHRUBS OF BRITAIN, INDIGENOUS AND FOREIGN. 



TREES and shrubs, in common with all other perfect plants, are arranged by 

 botanists in two grand divisions; viz. the Exogenous, or Dicotyledonous, plants, 

 the stems of which increase from without ; and the Endogenous, or Monocoty- 

 ledonous, plants, the stems of which increase from within. The first class in- 

 cludes all the hardy trees and shrubs in Britain, with the exception of shrubs 

 of the genera Yucca, Smilax, #uscus,and one or two others ; and this circum- 

 stance, as well as the fact, that the trees and shrubs of Britain are comprised 

 in a very few orders and tribes, has determined us to neglect the great 

 scientific divisions of the natural system, and to adopt only those of the orders 

 and tribes. We proceed, therefore, with the orders of the natural system, 

 much in the same series as that in which they are laid down in De Candolle's 

 ProdrtnmUf Don's Miller's Dictionary, and in our Hortus Britannicus, giving 

 the orders as chapters, and the tribes as sections, and including in our dis- 

 tinctive character of each order, the characteristic of the division to which it 

 belongs: that is to say, "whether to Dichlamydeae Thalamiflorae, Dichlamydeae 

 Calyciflorae, Dichlam<deae Corolliflorae, or Monochlamydeae. 



CHAP. I. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER 7iANUNCULA N CE^. 



THE term .ffanunculaceae is applied to this order, because all the plants con- 

 tained in it have, more or less, the character of the genus 7?anunculus. The 

 diagnostic, or distinctive character, of the order is thus given by Dr. Lindley : 

 " Polypetalous dicotyledons, with hypogynous stamens [that is, stamens under 

 the pistil] ; anthers bursting by longitudinal slits ; several distinct simple car- 

 pella [fruits] ; exstipulate leaves, sheathing at their base ; solid albumen ; and 

 seeds without arillus." (Introd. to the Nat. Syst., p. 6.) 



The only ligneous plants belonging to this order are, some species of Clematis 

 and Jtragene, one of PaeomY/, and the genus Xanthorhiza. The stems of the 

 species alluded to, though they are botanically considered as ligneous, yet have 

 very little claim to the appellation in the common sense of the word ; and, 

 indeed, with the exception of the stems of Clematis Vitalba, C. Flammula, and 

 one or two other species of Clematis and Xanthorhiza, the stems of the plants 

 belonging to this order might be almost called subherbaceous. The species 

 are chiefly natives of Europe and North America ; but some are from India, 

 China, and Japan. The -ffanunculaceae are considered to indicate a cold damp 

 climate, and to be acrid, caustic, and poisonous, though the root of the peony 

 is said to be antispasmodic. All the plants of the order, with the exception 

 perhaps of a few of the species, seem to be extremely tenacious of life. The 

 tubers of the common ranunculus and anemone, if kept dry, will vegetate at 

 the end of two, and even three, years ; and the seeds of most of the species, 

 more especially those of the C'lematideae, may be kept a number of years 

 without impairing their vital powers. The tribes containing ligneous plants 

 are two, C'lematideac and Psconiacecs. The last tribe belongs to a division of 

 the order consisting of what are considered as spurious .Raniinculacese. It 



