CROWFOOT TRIBE. 353 



petals, on wooded banks. In these the petals and sepals cannot 

 be distinguished, the whole perianth being coloured alike. They 

 exhibit a remarkable tendency to variation in the character of the 

 flower, usually depending upon the amount of nutriment which 

 the plant receives (. 461). Sometimes the sepals revert to the 

 form of ordinary leaves, whilst the petals exhibit a greenish 

 tinge, and the stamens of the outer row approach the petals in 

 character. The transformation may extend farther inwards, 

 the petals becoming quite green, the outer stamens resembling 

 ordinary petals, and the inner ones presenting an approach to 

 the same form. Every shade and variety of metamorphosis may 

 be met with, until all the parts of the flower, carpels as well as 

 stamens, are found to have been transformed into leaves, of 

 which the inner ones are most simple, whilst the several whorls 

 change in their character towards the form of the exterior one, 

 which corresponds with that of the ordinary leaves of the plant. 

 When the flower of the Anemone has dropped off, there is 

 seen in its place a little tuft of feathery tails or oval woolly 

 heads, in place of the clusters of grains which are found in the 

 Ranunculus. These tails are nothing but the styles of the car- 

 pels, grown large and hairy ; they probably serve the purpose 

 of wings by the action of the wind upon which, the carpels con- 

 taining the seed are dispersed. The Hepaticas differ little from 

 Anemonies ; they were once in repute for their supposed medi- 

 cinal virtues in diseases of the liver ; but they are now esteemed 

 merely as ornamental garden plants, and it is curious that they 

 may often be seen to thrive when neglected in a cottage garden, 

 whilst they perish under greater care, as if they were created 

 specially for the pleasure of the poor. 



510. Another subdivision of the order is that which con- 

 tains the Clematis, a genus of climbing plants, of which the 

 species native to Britain is known under the name of Traveller's 

 Joy ; whilst another, which is much cultivated in gardens, is 

 commonly called Virgin's Bower. These are almost the only 

 plants of the order which form woody stems ; they grow in 

 hedges and against walls, their petioles being prolonged as ten- 

 drils ; and, in spite of the acridity of their juices, their flowers 

 are mostly fragrant. 



