RANUNCULACEJE. 



17 



all indigenous in hilly, cold, or temperate regions of Europe and 

 Asia.' 



Finally, the Eranthids are 

 Hellebores, whose perianth con- 

 sists of two trimerous whorls, in- 

 stead of five pieces quincunciall}- 

 arranged. We also shall observe 

 this in certain species of Ranuncu- 

 lus, Anemone, and PcBonia, without 

 being able to put the species 

 possessing a hexamerous perianth 

 into separate genera. 



In the flowers of Helleborus 

 frifolius L. (fig. 34),' which has 

 served to found a separate genus 

 under the name of Coptis^ tr'ifolia,'' 

 we still note the general features 

 of the Hellebores; the perianth is composed of five, six, or, 

 more rarely, four petaloid leaves, imbricated in the bud. Within 

 are a variable number of petals or staminodes, represented by 

 small stipitate cups of a fleshy and somewhat glandular con- 

 sistency.' The stamens are indefinite, with unequal filaments 

 supporting basifixed anthers which dehisce laterally. The car- 

 pels, which vary m number,'' are stipitate, multiovulate, and sur- 

 mounted by a style reflexed and dilated at the summit. The fruits 

 are follicles. We must therefore consider Coptis as a Hellebore with 

 stipitate carpels, often few in number. They are perennial herbs, 

 found in the northern regions of both hemispheres. Their stem is 

 a rhizome of little thickness, creeping below ground, from which 

 arise buds here and there, which expand at the surface. They have 



Helleborus trifolins. 

 Fig. 34. 

 Flower. 



' Geen. & GoDR., Fl. Fr., i. 40. — Reichb., 

 Icon., iv. 101. — Walp., Mep., i. 17 ; Ann., 

 iv. 29. 



^ Amcen. Acad., ii. 355, t. 4, f. 18 ; Spec, 784, 

 — DC, i. 322. — Anemone granlandica L., FL 

 Ban., t. 5G6. 



^ Coptis Salisb., in Trans. Linn. Soc, viii. 

 305.— DC, Frodr., i. 47.— Spacii, Stdt. a Bnff., 

 vii. 324. — Endl., Gen., n. 4792. — Walp., Rep., 

 i. 49.— B. H., aen., 8, n. 20.— H. Bn. Adan- 

 sonia, iv. 47. 



* Salisb., I. cif. — Bigel, Bot. Med., i. fiO, 



VOL. 1. 



t. 5. — SiEB. & Zucc, Fl. Jap. Fam., 71. — A. 

 Grat, 111., t. 13. — Chri/sa, Raf. (iYeH- York 

 Med. Repos., ii. he.r. v. 350.) 



* In other species these organs nssinne the form 

 of linear scales : e.g., C. occidenialis ToiiU. it 

 Gr., of which NuTTALl (Joiirii. Ac. P/ii/ad., 

 viii. 9, t. 1) has made his genus C/in/soco{>ti.f. 

 Others, as C. asplenifolia Salisb. have thoin 

 dilated ahont half way up. These belong to a 

 group called Pterop/ii/lliiiii NrxT. 



•"' Sometimes there is but one ; while as many 

 as ten have been counted. 



C 



