10 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



(fit^-. 70), the chief reservoir of juice is formed by the adventitious 

 roots, whose cortical portion becomes thick and fleshy, emptying 



itself later on to supply ma- 

 terials for the development of 

 the buds situated a little above 

 the roots near the collar of the 

 plant.' 



Close to Rammculus comes 

 the genus Myomrm' (figs. 71, 

 72), which differs from it in 

 but very few characters.^ The 

 most marked is the great elon- 

 gation of the receptacle, which 

 resembles a small cylindro- 

 conoidal branch, bearing suc- 

 cessively one above the other, 

 the perianth, the androceum, and the gyna^ceum, whose pieces are 

 sjDi rally inserted.^ The calyx consists of from five to six sessile, free 

 sepals, imbricated in the bud, and having the base pro- 

 duced beyond the point of insertion into a little tongue- 

 shaped spur closely applied to the peduncle. The petals 

 nearly equal in number to the sepals, and alternating with 

 them, have a quite peculiar form (fig. 73). A very narrow 

 claw supports a limb hollowed out to form a glandular 

 cavity, which has its border much prolonged (but only ex- 

 ternally) like the bowl of a spoon. The stamens are few in 

 number, and the basifixed anther has two adnate extrorse cells 



Myosurus minimus. 

 Fio. 11. Fig. 12. 



Flower. Longitudinal section. 



Mt/osurvx 



minimus. 



Fig, 73. 



Petal. 



stems may be detached in winter, and put forth 

 adventitious roots in the spring, so as to form 

 as many distinct plants. (See further on 

 the vegetation of Fkaria, the researches of 

 Gekmain de Saixt-Piekee, Bull. Soc. Phil., 

 Jan. 1862, and JiuU. Soc. Hot. Fr., iii. 11.) 



^ In S. orientali.i (Genus Ci/priantke Spach, 

 Sii/. a Buff., vii. 220), the tuber contains the 

 nutritive matter in the cortical portion of its 

 adventitious roots. We have described (Adan- 

 soui'i, iv. 32) this tuber as analogous to the 

 subterranean portion of Dahlia, with a small 

 central axis bearing above a crown of buds, 

 and lower down conical adventitious roots fleshy 

 on the outside. 



We think it right to again call the attention 

 of the reader to the utility of consulting all 

 that Ikmiscu has written on the organs of 



vegetation of the Sanunculaceee in general, and 

 the Ranunculi in particular. (See note 3, 

 p. 44.) 



" Myosurus Dill., Nov. Gen., 106. — T., 

 Inst., 293.— L., Gen., n. 394.— Juss., Gen., 233. 

 —DC, Pfodr., i. 25.— Spach, Suit, ci Buff., 

 vii. 192.— Endl., Gen., n. 4780.— B. H., Gen., 

 5, n. 8. 



^ So that several authors have called the 

 typical species of this genus Panunculus mini- 

 mus (Afz., Liljelb. Sv.yi., 230, ex DC, /. cit.). 



* According to Patek {Bull. Soc. Philomat., 

 May 17, 1845, 59), the arrangement of the 

 floral appendices is represented by the fraction 

 2^ as in the Ranunculi ; hence the variable 

 number of stamens, and their constant position 

 with regard to the sepals. 



