RANUNCULAGE^. 



29 



Stavesacre* (figs. 53-58) has nearly all the characters of the 

 preceding plants ; but the spur of the posterior sepal is relatively 

 shorter and broader, and slightly bifid at the tip. The petal 

 opposite this is sessile, and is prolonged downwards and into the 

 spur to form a thick hollow glandular double spur (fig. 55), while 

 its limb is deeply divided into two erect halves, nearly symmetrical 

 with one another, and united in front by a short cross-piece, so that 

 the division of this organ into two half petals is not quite complete. 

 The lateral petals are represented by little wings of two kinds ; 

 while the anterior petals are quite wanting in some flowers (fig. 53) 

 and exist in others," 

 which have then 

 eight petals arran- 

 ged like those of 

 Aconitmu JVape/i/fs, 

 four of them being 

 in pairs opposed to 

 sepals 1 and 3 (fig. 

 56). 



The androceum 

 is that of the pre- 

 ceding plants (figs. 

 55 and 56) and 

 the gynseceum is 

 usually formed of 

 three carpels,^ of 



which one is nearly ^^''''' ^"^^^'^"'^ ''' ^^^y^- 



posterior. The follicles are thick, and each encloses seeds closely 

 pressed together, so as to be more or less deformed. The 

 copious albumen contains the minute embryo near its apex ; and the 



Delphinium Stapldsagria. 

 Fig. 55. 



Fig. 56. 

 Diagram. 



' D. Staphisagria L., Spec, 750. S. macro- 

 earpa Spach, I. cit. 



■ On the same plant we may find flowers with 

 eight petals, and others with less. When there 

 are eight we see, as in the Aconites, a single 

 one opposite sepal 4 and sepal 5, and a pair op- 

 posite sepal 1, sepal 2, and sepal 3. The two petals 

 which are opposite sepals 4 and 5 forvn at the 

 base a sort of flattened spur, glandular and nec- 

 tariferous within. The anterior petals, when 

 present, are reduced to small flattened unequal 

 scales, the anterior one of each pair remaining 



much less developed than the other. See Beoxg- 

 NIART, Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 3, v. 300, and 

 Pater, loc. cit., 261, note. 



•'' From two to four carpels may he counted, 

 rarely more. Their position has not yet been 

 accurately decided (sec Adansonia iv. 21), any 

 more than in most sections of this genus. The 

 ovules of Stavesacre are few in number, and in 

 the typical species there are only four in two 

 vertical rows. They are placed back to back, 

 and are somewhat ascending. 



