12 



NATURAL niSTOJlY OF PLANTS. 



Western Asia.' They have alternate pinnatifid leaves, much dis- 

 sected, with narrow segments ; in N. damascana they are transformed 

 into hracts, and form an involucre below the calyx (figs. 25, 2G). 

 The flowers are solitary, terminal. 



The Ni(/ellce, therefore, differ chiefly from the Columbines in the 

 more or less complete union of their carpels, in the peculiar arrange- 

 ment of their stamens, and in the opposition of the petals or 

 nectaries to the sepals. The Hellebores" differ still less from the 



Nigellce, for if we ex- 

 cept the difference of 

 habit and growth, we 

 find that the only 

 want of resemblance 

 between the two types 

 is in the form of the 

 petals or nectaries, the 

 desrree of cohesion of 

 the carpels, and the 

 organization of the 

 ovules. We may con- 

 vince ourselves of this 

 by analysing first the 

 common Bear's-foot 

 {Helleborusfoetidus; Fr. 

 Pied de Grifi-on). 



HeJhboriisfoeiidus L.^ 

 lias hermaphrodite, re- 

 gular flowers, w4th a 

 conical receptacle, 

 which bears succes- 

 sively from below up- 

 wards the calyx, the 

 corolla, the andro- 

 ceum, and the gynie- 



I 



Fig. 27. 

 Helleborusfoetidus. 



' Gren. & GoDK., FL Fr., i. 43. — Walp., 

 Rep., i. 49; ii. 741; Ann., i. 12; ii. 11; 

 vii , 2R. — Ueichb., Icon., iv. t. 120. 



2 Ile/lebont^ T., Insf., 271, t. 141.— Adaxs , 

 Fam.PL.W. 458. — h.,Gen.,n.l02. — ,lvS9.,Oen., 

 n. 233. — DC, Prodr., i. 46. — Spacu, Suit, a 

 Bvff., vii. 312. — ExDL., Gen., n. 4789. — Payer, 



Organog., 258, t. Ivii. — B. H., Gen. 7, n. 18. — 

 H. 15n., Adamonia, iv. 44. — Helleloraster 

 McENCH, Meth., 236. 



3 Spec. 784. — Sect. Griphopus Spach, loc, 

 cit. — See Is. Dumas, Quelques mots sur la Struc- 

 ture de I'H. fetide (Tkhes de Monfpellier, 

 1844). 



