NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



II. RANUNCULUS SERIES. 



If we analyse the flower of one of our indigenous UnnuncuJi ,^ known 

 under the vulgar names of Crowfoot, Spearwort, Kingcups, Butter- 

 cups, &c. (Fr. Bassinets, GrenouiUdtes, Boutons cVor, dnrgonl, &c.), for 



example, the Great Spearwoi*t 

 {Itmiunculus Lingua L., Fr. 

 Grande Bouve) (fig. 59), we 

 find that it is regular and 

 hermaphrodite, with a slightly 

 convex receptacle. The calyx 

 is formed of five free, some- 

 what unequal, sepals, which 

 are the more membranous and 

 coloured as they are the more 

 internal in the bud, where 

 they are quincuncially imbri- 

 cated (fig. GO). They are 

 caducous, as are also the five 

 petals which alternate with 

 thcTii, and which are also free 

 and imbricated in a}stivation.- 

 The claw, which is almost 

 obsolete, is surmounted by a 

 glandular depression on the 

 inner surface of the limb. 

 Above the perianth, the re- 

 ceptacle is produced into a 

 short cone, very regular in 

 some species, as R. rrprns L. (figs. 61, 02), and supports an 

 indefinite number first of stamens and then of carpels, inserted 

 in a spiral.' The stamens are free, and each is composed of a 



Ranunculus Lingua. 

 Fio. 59. 



> Ranunculus Hallek, Helvet., ii. 08. — T., 

 Inst., 285, t. 149. — L., Qen., n. 699.— Juss., 

 Qen., n. 233.— DC, Prodr., i. 26.— Spacii, 

 Suit, h Buff., vii. 203.— Knui,., Oen., n. 4783. 

 — Payer, (Jr/janot/., ii.'.'., t. Ivii. — 11. H., 

 Oen., 5, 6, n. 9-12. — II. Hn., .iilnnsoiila, 

 iv. 50. 



" Tlic iinlir'u'utioii of tin- live ])ftiils is viniHhlo, 



being sometimes qtiinciiiK-inl like that of tlio 

 calyx, while often there is hut one petal that in 

 wholly outside, and only one entirely covered in. 

 ' According to Paykk {Jiull. Soc. Philom., 

 May 17, 18W>, 59), the fraction indicating the 

 spiral arrangement of the petals and stamens 



