RANUNOULAGE^. 



17 



all indigenous in hilly, cold, or temperate regions of Europe and 

 Asia." 



Finally, the Eranthids are 

 Hellebores, whose perianth con- 

 sists of two trimerous whorls, in- 

 stead of five pieces quincuncially 

 arranged. We also shall observe 

 this in certain species of Itariuncu- 

 lus, Anemone, and Fceonia, without 

 being able to put the species 

 possessing a hexamerous perianth 

 into separate genera. 



In the flowers of Hellehonis 

 trifolius L. (fig. 34),' which has 

 served to found a separate genus 

 under the name of Coptis^ frlfolia,^ 

 we still note the general features 

 of the Hellebores; the perianth is composed of five, six, or, 

 more rarely, four petaloid leaves, imbricated in the bud. Within 

 are a variable number of petals or staminodes, represented by 

 small stipitate cups of a fleshy and somewhat glandular con- 

 sistency/ The stamens are indefinite, wdth unequal filaments 

 supporting basifixed anthers which dehisce laterally. The car- 

 pels, which vary m number,^ are stipitate, multiovulate, and sur- 

 mounted by a style reflexed and dilated at the summit. The fruits 

 are follicles. We must therefore consider Coptis as a Hellebore with 

 stipitate carpels, often few in number. They are perennial herbs, 

 found in the northern regions of both hemispheres. Their stem is 

 a rhizome of little thickness, creeping below ground, from which 

 arise buds here and there, which expand at the surface. They have 



Sellehorus trifolius. 

 Fig. 34. 

 Flower. 



' Gren. & GoDH., Fl. Fr., i. 40.— Reichb., 

 Icon., iv. 301. — Walp., Rep., i. 47 ; Ann., 

 iv. 29. 



2 Amoen. Acad., ii. 355, t. 4, f. 18 ; Spec, 784, 

 — DC, i. 322. — Anemone groenlandica L., Fl. 

 Dan., t. 566. 



3 Coptis Salisb., in Trans. Linn. Soc, \\u. 

 305.— DC, Prodr., i. 47.— Spacu, Stat, a Buff., 

 vii. 324.— F.NDL., Gen., n. 4792.— Walp., Sep., 

 i. 49— B. H., Oen., 8, n. 20.— H. Bn. Adan- 

 ifonia, iv. 47. 



* Salisb., I. «7.— Bigkl, Bot. Med., i. 60, 



VOL. I. 



t. 5.— SiEB. & Zttcc, Fl. Jap. Fam., 71. — A. 

 Geat, 111., t. 13. — Chrysa, Raf. {Neiv York 

 Med. Repos., ii. hex. v. 350.) 



* In other species these organs assume the form 

 of linear scales : e.g., C. occidentalis Tore. & 

 Ge., of which Nuttall (Jotirn. Ac. Philad., 

 viii. 9, t. 1) has made his genus Chrysocoptis. 

 Others, as C. asplenifolia Salisb. have them 

 dilated about half way up. These belong to a 

 group called PferopJu/llum Nutt. 



* Sometimes there is but one ; while as many 

 as ten have been counted. 



c; 



