RANUNCULACE^E 65 



All these Aconitums can be easily naturalised in shrubberies 

 or copses, or in the bushier and more shady positions of large rock- 

 gardens. 



ACTJEA. L. 



Flowers nearly regular, small. Leaves chiefly radical, with 

 distinct segments. Sepals 4, small, petal-like. Petals 4, small, 

 clawed. Stamens numerous, with small anthers. Carpel solitary, 

 becoming a berry when ripe. 



A small genus, spread over the northern hemisphere. 



Actcea spicata L. Baneberry. 



Rootstock thick, blackish. Stem 1-2 feet high, glabrous, with 

 2 or 3 leaves in the upper part. Leaves large, thin, 2-3 ternate, 

 with oval-acuminate leaflets, incised-dentate. Flowers white, 

 small, in a short terminal raceme. Corolla regular, with 4 petaloid 

 sepals, easily falling. Petals 4, almost invisible. Stigma sessile. 

 Berry ovoid, green, and finally black and shining, with numerous 

 seeds. 



Damp, stony woods and steep, bushy declivities in sub-alpine 

 districts up to 5000 feet. May to July. Poisonous. 



Distribution. Nearly all Europe from the Pyrenees to the 

 Caucasus, and Norway, where it reaches the fir limit ; Siberia, 

 Himalaya. In Britain in the north. 



L. Paeony. 



Flowers solitary, red, regular. Petals numerous, very large. 

 Sepals 5, green, herbaceous. Stamens numerous, inserted on a 

 fleshy disc. Carpels 2-5, large. Leaves large, with distinct segments 

 and chiefly radical. 



A genus of very few species, indigenous in Southern Europe 

 and temperate Asia. 



Pceonia peregrina Miller (P. officinalis L.). 



Stem 1-2 feet high, simple, glabrous. Leaves 2-3 ternate, 

 with rather narrow segments divided into 2-3 lobes, hairy under- 

 neath. Petals oboval, rose coloured, very large. Anthers shorter 

 than the filaments. Follicles 2-3, glabrous or with tomentum, 

 more or less divergent, and spreading at maturity. 



Limestone woods and pastures of southern mountains, growing 

 at from 3250 to 4200 feet on the mountains behind Mentone (Mog- 

 gridge), and up to 6000 feet in the Ligurian Alps. Very local. 

 May, June. 



Distribution. Provence, Languedoc, Roussillon up to the 

 Hautes-Alpes and 1'Aveyron ; Southern Europe from Portugal to 

 Greece. In Switzerland only in Canton Tessin (Generoso, etc.). 



This Paeony can be planted in good moist loam at any time 

 from October to March, and it requires much the same treatment 



