56 NATURAL HISTOBY OF PLANTS. 



The c^cnus Thalictnim consists of herbaceous perennials found in the 

 cold or temperate regions of Europe/ Eastern India,- the Cape/ and 

 America/ Tlie leaves are alternate and several times compound.' 

 The petiole, dilated at its base into a kind of sheath with mem- 

 branous edges, is usually very short and sometimes disappears. In 

 certain cases, as in T. aquUcyifoViuin L., we observe small foliaceous 

 exjjansions or stipels at the base of each of the divisions of the 

 blade. The inllorescence is usually terminal, and consists of a 

 raceme or corymb, with. many-Howered cymes for branches. The 

 flowers become here, far more often than in Clematis, polygamous 

 or monoecious, or dioecious by abortion, especially in Euthalictrum 

 and Phijsocarpam. 



Si/ndesmon, which was made by De Candolle a separate section^ of 

 the genus T/talictncm, and which has been also referred to the genus 

 Anemone, is distinguished from the preceding group by the enlarge- 

 ment of its subterranean portion, its few-flowered inflorescence, and 

 the sort of involucre formed by the bracts under the flowers. 

 AVith De Candolle we shall leave this plant beside T. tuberosum 

 L., a closely analogous plant, which possesses the flowers of any 

 other T/ialietrum, with a solitary suspended ovule and no abortive 

 ones above it,^ contrary to what happens in Anemone. 



Actad has nearly all the essential characters of Thalictrum. 

 Thus Acfaa Cimicifuga L. (figs. 101, 102), which has been again 

 made the type of a special genus,^ has the habit, the foliage, the 



established by De Candolle {S^st., i. 169; Anemone thalictroides L., Spec.,76d. — B. H., 



Prodr., i. 11). In Euthalictrum the ovules are Oen., 4. Thalictrum anemonoides flore pleuo 



oval-oblong, with vertical, projecting edges. In (V. HoTJTTE, Fl. des Serres, ser. 2, i. 165). 



Physocarpum {Physocarpidiuvi Keichb., Co7i- ^ On T. Tuherosum, see J. Gay [Bull. Soc. 



sped., l'J2) the achenes are stipltate and Jiot. Fr., viii. 330). — Above the ovule are only 



triijuetrous, with the angles winged. the two vertical, somewhat projecting lips of the 



' GfiEK. & GoDR., Fl. Fr., i. 4. — Reichb., carpel. Not the less does this plant show the 



Icon., iii. t. 26-46.— Kocn [Ann. Sc. Nat., close affinity of Tlialicirum and Anemone, and 



ser. 2, ix. 373). — De Massas, sur les Thalic- only coniirms that of the latter with Clematis. 



trum de France {Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 2, ix. The flowers appear arranged in cymes, and may 



3.j1). — Kegel, Uebers. der Art. O. Thalic- be even solitary. 



trum, u'tlche im Russisch, &c. {in Bull. Soc. ^ Actcea L., Oen., n. 644. — Juss., Gen., 235. 



Nat. Mosc. (1861), 11). —DC, Prodr. i. 64.— Spach, Suit, a Buff. vii. 



' Hook. & Thoms., Fl. Ind., i. 12. — Eoiss., 275. — Fisch. & Met., Anim. Bot. {Ann. Sc. 



DiaffH. PI. Or.— S. & Zucc, Fl. Jap. Fam., 69. Nat., ser. 2, iv. 333).— Exdl., Gen., n. 4799.— 



=* Hakv. & SoND., Fl. Cup., i. 3. B. H., Gen., 9, n. 27.— Walp., Rep., i. 60; 



* A. Gray, ///., t. 6. Ann., iv. 32. — H. Bn., Adansonia, iv. 54; 



* As many as five or six times, according to the Diet. Enc. Sc. Med., i. 6G5. 



species. The leaves closely recal those of most » Cimicifiir/a L., Am. Acad., viii. 193, t. 4 ; 



Umbellifers. Gen., n. 1282. — Juss., Gen., 234. — B. H., Gen., 



" § //'•'""o.va {Prodr., i. 15). — Si/ndesmon 9, n. 28. — Walp., Rep., i. 60; Ann., iv. 32. 



HoFFMAXSO., Flora (1832), Int. BL, 34.— —Actinospora TuECZ, Mss., ex Fisch. & Met., 



Anemonella Spach, Suit, a Buff., vii. 240.— I. cit., 332.— Endl., Gen., n. 4801, 4802. 



