38 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Nearly all the Brniiiuculi have hermaphrodite flowers. They are 

 nevertheless accidentally polygamous in some ; and dicecia is nearly 

 constant in some American species native in the regions near the 

 Antarctic Pole, which have been designated Ilamadri/nfi ;' we only 

 admit them as a section. " 



The Ttcuunictdi are a numerous family ; some have described three 

 hundred species ; their number may probably be reduced by one- 



Ranunculus repens. 



Fig. 69. 



Stem. 



half. We find them all over the world from one pole to tlie other — 

 common in the temperate-' and cold' regions of both hemispheres, 

 much rarer in the warm countries.* Many are annuals, and sometimes 

 are of very short duration.® Some are aquatic plants with the leaves 

 submerged, at least in great part. The perennials only survive by 

 developing in some of their organs (always near the young shoots) 

 reservoirs of nutritive juice, of varying situation, but possessing 

 always the same function — that of nourishing the young plants, 

 whether they remain in connexion with the parent stock or become 



' Jlnmadrtfas CovM., licrb., ex Jrss., Oen.y 

 232.— DC, Pruilr., i. 2.'>.— Si'ach, Suit, a Buff., 

 vii.— Endu, Gf'n.,\\. 1770. — Walp., Ann., i. 7. 

 —Hook. F., FL Ant., ii. 227, t. 85— H. Bn., 

 AdatiKonia, iv. 51. 



* In the feiiiule (lowers of II. mageUanica, 

 tlie cjirpelrt are indcHnito, ciicli Hunnoiinted by u 

 HUiull hooked style, and containing an ascending 

 ovule with the micropyle external. In the uialo 

 flowers are numerous unequal xtaniens, with 

 ba«ilixed anthers dehiscing by lateral clefts. 

 The calyx consists of live seimls, entire, or deei>ly 

 divided into two or more lobes. The j)etals are 

 numerous, as in Oxygra))hiH, but arc long and 

 narrow with a contracted claw, at the summit of 

 which is a glandular ))it. The habit of this 

 )>lant is that of certain litniutiruli, especially 

 J{. T/iiijwid. We «'annot separate these plants 

 ironi the lianunculi on account of their dicli- 



nism, for that is observed in Clematis, Tha- 

 lictnini, Aetna, &c. ; nor for their innnerous 

 petals, which may be as many in the lianunculi 

 strictly so called. 



» Ohkn. a. Uoun.. Fl. Fr., \. 18.— Reicub., 

 Icon., iii. 1-23.— Wai.1'., Rrp., i. 33 ; ii. 738 ; 

 V. 4; Ann., i. 8, 954; ii. G; iv. 6. — Fiecu., 

 Anim. Bot. {Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 2, iv. 332, 

 335). — Stev., Ann. Sc. Not., ser. 3, xii. 368. 

 — S. & Zocc, Fl. J(i]>. Fam., 71. — A. CiHav, 

 III., t. 9.— Wedd., Chlor. Anil., ii. ;U)0.— Tui. 

 & 1*L., Fl. N.-Oranat. {Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 1, 

 xvii. 11.) 



* IIooK., Fl. Antarcl., i. 3, t. 1, 2; ii. 223. 

 t. 81-83. 



* IIooK. & Til., Fl. Iml.. i. 28.— A. S. H., /7. 

 Bras. Mer., i. 6.— M aut., Fl. lints.. Kcnonc, 151. 



* KspcciuUy Ceratocrjihalus (p. 36). 



