2 RANUNCULACE^E. 



ORDER I. RANUNCULACExE. 



Herbs (Clematis shrubby) with colorless juice. Leaves alternate 

 (opposite in Clematis; the cauline whorled in Anemone], usually lobed 

 or ternately divided. Sepals 3 6, deciduous. Stamens oo, hypogy nous; 

 anthers adnate, opening lengthwise, by slits. Pistils usually oo , distinct 

 and simple, becoming achenes or follicles (in Aclcea 1, becoming a berry). 



Petals wanting; 



Sepals 4; achenes plumose-tailed, CLEMATIS 1 



" 5 or more: achenes without tails, ANEMONE 2 



" green; flowers unisexual: achenes ribbed THALIOTKUM 7 



Flowers complete; 



Pistil 1; fruit berry-like, ACTJEA. 8 



Stamens few; achenes in a slender spike MYOSURUS 3 



many; achenes in heads RANUNCULUS 4 



Flowers irregular, one sepal spur-like DELPHINIUM 5 



" regular, all 5 petals spur-like AQUILEOIA 6 



1. CLEMATIS, Diosc. Half -woody, climbing by tortuous petioles of 

 compound opposite leaves, in the axils of which are solitary or clustered 

 flowers (ours white). Sepals 4, petaloid, valvate in bud. Pistils oo ; 

 styles persistent, becoming feathery appendages of the large compressed 

 and capitate-clustered achenes. 



1. C. I si si a nt ha, Nutt. Silky-pubescent; leaflets 3, ovate, coarsely 

 toothed or 3-lobed or -parted: fl. large, only one on each bibracteate 

 peduncle; sepals 24 in. long. Trailing over rocks and shrubs among the 

 hills. April. 



2. C. ligusticifolia, Nutt. Glabrous or nearly so, or the leaves silky- 

 tomentose beneath : leaflets broadly ovate to lanceolate, usually 3-lobed : 

 fl.panicled in the axils; sepals % i Q - long. Often climbing 30 ft. upon 

 small trees, iu Alameda and Marin Counties. July. 



2. AXEMOXE, Diosc. Perennial herbs with radical leaves lobed or 

 divided, and a cauline involucral whorl of 3. Flowers on erect pedun- 

 cles. Sepals 5 or more, petaloid, imbricate. Achenes merely pointed. 



1. A. Grayi, Behr. & Kell. Very slender, 614 in. high, from a 

 horizontal rootstock: radical leaf remote from the stem, trifid, the seg- 

 ments serrate; the involucral not far below the flower, petiolate, 

 3-foliolate; leaflets all coarsely serrate, the lateral ones 2-lobed: sepals 

 5 or 6, oval, usually bluish outside: achenes 12 20, oblong, 2 lines long, 

 pubescent, the fruiting pedicel coiled into a ring Coast Range, in 

 moist shades. March May. 



3. MYOSURUS, Lobel, (MOUSBTATL). Small stemless glabrous 

 annual, with narrow entire leaves, and slender 1-flowered scapes. Sepals 



