RANUNCULACEJS. 



S3 



petals. Not one of these appendages is truly alternate with any 

 of the four valvate sepals of the calyx. As we approach the centre 

 of the flower, we find the kind of spathulate expansion at their summit 

 gradually transformed into a connective, bearing on its inner face 

 two anther cells dehiscing longitudinally. At the same time the 

 basilar portion becomes contracted to form a true filament. The 

 " petals" of Atragene are therefore only staminodes.' Besides, the 

 numerous carpels of Atragene have this in common with those of 

 Clematis, that the ovule observed on the inner angle of the ovary 

 has above it four small ovules in two vertical rows, which never 

 become developed.^ 



The genus Naravelia^ was established for certain Indian species of 

 Atragene, whose leaves, instead of being three-lobed, have the middle 

 segment abortive, or transformed into a tendril. If we analyse 

 N. zeylanica,^ we find a pubescent calyx of four, five, or six valvate 

 sepals, and within this a large number of imbricated stamens, with 

 flattened filaments, and two-celled introrse anthers,' dehiscing 

 longitudinally, each surmounted by a small prolongation of the 

 connective. The carpels are numerous, covered with stifi', erect 

 hairs ; and each encloses a suspended ovule with the micropyle 

 turned upwards and inwards. This is the only one completely 

 developed; but above it, when young, are four others in pairs on 

 each side of the suture of the carpel, of which traces are with 

 difficulty found when the fertile one is adult. This is another rela- 

 tion with Atragene, of which Naravelia also possesses the corolla 

 formed of very long petals dilated at the summit and varying in 

 number." But these are only sterile stamens. For a long time 

 they are very small, shaped like the outer stamens, and presenting 

 above an anther- like swelling, which never becomes fertile. Hence 

 we cannot separate Atragene and Naravelia generically from eacli 

 other, and therefore not from Clematis. 



^ We must unite these types into one genus, 

 for the same reason as we include Pulsatilla 

 in Anemone, and because, as we shall soon 

 find, we cannot separate from the true Hib- 

 berfias those species in which the outer sta- 

 mens are transformed into staminodes, &c. 

 In several cultivated species of Clematis the 

 Hovver becomes double, like that of tlie Ane- 

 mones. 



• Here also it is the study of organogeny 

 which revealed to us {Adansonia, i. 331) the 



existence of these small sterile ovules. Even 

 live or six may bo found. 



3 Naravacl Heum., Zet/lan., 26. 



^ N. zeylanica DC, Prodr., i. 10.— Hook. & 

 Th., Fl. Ind., i. 3. — H. H., Oen., 4.:—Atr(i(}rii, 

 zei/lanica L., Amevn., i. 405. 



s Enuliciier {Oen., n. 4 170) believed these 

 stamens to be extrorse, which would have re- 

 moved these plants further from Atragene. Hut 

 in iV". zei/l/niira they are distinctly introrse. 



'^ From live to lil'ieen. 



