NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



I. RANUNCULACEiE. 



I. COLUMBINE SERIES— EEGULAR FORM. 



We shall commence the study of this group by the analysis of the 

 common Columbine {Jqiii- 

 legio} vulgaris L.), a herb 

 found growing pretty fre- 

 quently in certain hilly 

 woods, under hedges, and 

 on the borders of forests, in 

 marshy fields, and also culti- 

 vated in all gardens, where 

 it flowers in the spring and 

 part of the summer (fig. 1). 

 Its flowers are of the kind 

 termed hermaphrodite, that 

 is, containing both male and 

 female reproductive organs. 

 They are regular, bearing 

 around their axis or floral 

 receptacle, a certain number 

 of aj^pendages, arranged 

 with great regularity from 

 below upwards, as will be 

 seen at a glance on examin- 

 ing the theoretical diagram 

 of the flower — i.e., its plan, 

 or the projection of all its 

 component organs on a ho- 

 rizontal plane (fig. 2). 



Fig. 1. 

 Aquilegia vitlffarit. 



1 Aquilegia ToiTEN., Inslit., 428 ; Coroll., 30, 329.— Endx., Om., n. 4795.— rAYKK, Organo. 

 t. 242.— L., Gen., n. 684.— Juss., Gen., 234.— genie, 245, t. liv.— H. II.. Gen., 8, n. 23.— H. Hn.. 

 DC, Prodr., i. 50. — Spach, Suit, a Buff., vii. Adansonia, iv. 13. 



B 



