BANUNGULAGEJS. 



47 



witli it constitute the group Con-si/if/o,^ plants witli yellow flowers, 

 petals usually very numerous,'- and an involucre completely surround- 

 ing the floriferous axis as in most Anemones. 



Knowltoma^ is a group of plants from the Cape, which have all the 

 floral characteristics of Consi/if/o, and therefore of Adoiih, from which 

 they only differ in the truly fleshy consistency of the pericarp, and 

 the habit and foliage which recal those of some of tlie Umbellifers 

 and of certain species of the genus Anemone, to which we must 

 equally unite KnoioJtonia. 



Thus constituted,"* our genus Anemone includes about eighty 



' Adonis, sect. ii. Consiligo DC, Prodr., i. 21'. 

 — Gen. Adamanthe Spach, Suit. aBuff.,\\\. ^77. 

 Its type is A. vernalis L. {Spec, 771) whose 

 organization we have specially studied {Adanso- 

 Ilia, i. 335; ii. 209; iii. 53). The most striking 

 character of plants of this group is that their 

 subterranean stems are perennial as in the true 

 Anemones. If we study one of these rhizomes 

 before the winter we see that it bears adven- 

 titious roots and large shoots, some only leafy, 

 others terminated by a flower. Each first bears 

 scales and then imbricated leaves. These scales 

 represent the petiolary sheaths as they are often 

 seen surmounted by a rudimentary blade. Like 

 the leaves they have often axillary buds, which 

 by their development cause the great ramitication 

 of the rhizome. The already formed flowers show 

 that the petals continue the spiral series of sta- 

 mens externally without its being possible to tix 

 the boundaries between them ; so we ought, in 

 all probability, to consider them as staminodes 

 like the nectaries of the Hellebores, &c. 



2 A. cEstivalis may have flowers with only five 

 interior leaves or petals to the perianth. More 

 usually a certain number of them are dedupli- 

 cated ; then occupying the intervals between the 

 sepals in groups of two, three, or more, as in the 

 Hepaticas and the Wood Anemone. In Consiligo 

 there are often as many as fifteen, twenty, or 

 more of these inner leaves. 



3 Knowlionia Salisb., Prodr., 372. — DC, 

 Prodr., i. 23. — Spacu, Suit, a Buff., vli. 231. — 

 Endl., Gen., n. 4775. — B. H., Gen. 4, n. 5. 

 — Harv. & SoND., Fl. Cap., i. 4.— if. rigida 

 Salisb. {K. hirsuta DC. — Anamenia corlacea 

 Vent., Malmais., i. t. 22. — Adonis capensis 

 Thunb. — L., Spec, 772) is often cultivated in 

 our botanical gardens. As we have stated (Jlor- 

 ticul. Franq., xv. 2, t. vi. and Adansonia, iv. 

 52), the perianth is formed of a score of some- 

 what greenish-yellow leaves, without any distinc- 

 tion of colour between calyx and corolla. In this 

 respect it resembles exactly an Anemone like A. 

 japonica, whose inner sepals may be numerous, 

 imbricated, and narrow, but are otherwise similar 



to the outer ones. The habit, foliage, and inflo- 

 rescence are the same in both, only the flower of 

 Knowlionia is somewhat smaller. The only diffe- 

 rentiating character is that the fruit of the 

 latter becomes fleshy when fully mature. In 

 this respect Adonis, with its fruits that remain 

 drupaceous for some time, stands intermediate 

 between the true Anemones and Knowlionia. 

 But here, as with the other Ranunctdaceae, 

 we lay but little stress on the consistency of 

 the perianth. The stamens are indefinite, the 

 outer ones shortest; the anther dehisces laterally, 

 and the filament forms a small projection beneath 

 it on each side as in the Anemones. The carpels 

 are on short stalks, and the style is horn-shaped, 

 with a groove on the inner surface, whose lips are 

 charged with stigmatic papilla. 



•• According to our views {Adansonia, iv. 52) 

 this genus consists of the following sections — 

 I. Outer stamens sterile : 



1. Pulsaiilla (T.). 



II. Stamens all fertile : 



2. Euanemone. Involucre at a distance from 

 the perianth which is either simple quincuncial 

 and pentamerous, or provided in addition with a 

 variable number of internal imbricated leaves. 

 De Candolle's sections, with two exceptions, 

 are included in this group as secondary divisions. 



3. Repatica (Dill.). Involucre near the pe- 

 rianth, which is trimerous, with frecpient dedu- 

 plication in the iinicr whorl. 



4. Adonis (Dill.). Perianth double or triple, 

 with the inner leaves j)etaloid and the outer 

 leaves more or less green (sepuloid). Flowers 

 primary. Fruit drupaceous, at least for a certain 

 time. Involucre very imperfect. 



5. Knowlionia (Salisb.). Perianth with mul- 

 tiple leaves, the outer little if at all distinct from 

 the inner in either consistency or coloration. 

 FVuit bacciform. 



G. Consiligo (DC). Perianth with multiple 

 leaves, the inner a little more distinct from the 

 outer than in section 5, and less so than in sec- 

 tion 4. Fruit half fiesliy at maturity. Involucre 

 more complete than in section 4. 



