BANUNCULACE.'E. 



57 



perianth, the androceum,' and the gynseceum of ThaUcirum. Only 

 the carpels,' instead of one ovule, contain an indefinite number' in 

 two vertical rows, and become follicles as in the Larkspurs and 

 Columbines. The number of petaloid sepals in this plant varies 

 from four to six (fig. 101), and they are imbricated in a variable 



7m 



Actaa Cimicifuga. 

 Fig. 101. Fig. 102. 



Bud. Flower without the perianth. 



ActcBa racemosa. 

 Fig. 103. 

 Flower without the periantli. 



manner.' The seeds, like those of the Larkspurs, bristle with small 

 projecting lamellae. As in Thalictrum the carpels are sometimes 

 sessile (e.g. A. Cimicifuga), and sometimes supported on along slender 

 stalk, as happens in A. jmdocarpa DC' Moreover, the number of 

 carpels may also be reduced to one, as happens in the section Con- 

 soUda oi BeJplii Ilium ; this maybe seen in A. racemosa L.^ (fig. 103), 

 A. Brachypetala DC.^ (fig. 104), and especially in the European 

 species which Tournefort formerly called Chrisfop/ioriaua,^ and which 

 under the name of A. spicata (Ang. Baneberry, Herb Cliri -stop Iter) 

 (figs. 104-109) is often cultivated in our gardens. This has 

 moreover the peculiarity that its pericarp, instead of being diy and 

 dehiscent like a follicle, as it is in the other species, becomes flesh}^, 

 and does not open to free the seeds, which are smooth on the 



' The stamens are indefinite, and equal or un- 

 equal. The filament generally tapers towards 

 its base, and the autlier is always two-celled and 

 introrse. 



■ The carpels are always grooved along the 

 whole of the inner border. The ovary is sur- 

 mounted by a style of very variable length, and 

 sometimes very short. 



^ They always have two coats, and arise one 

 after another, so that the youngest are always 

 uppermost. There are also a few close to the base 

 of the ovary wliich arise after tlie others. 



■* Witli four sepals we usually find two lateral 

 and exterior which overlap one another. The 

 posterior sepal usually overlaps the anterior, but 

 this sestivation is not constant. When, as in A. 



spicala, we have four sepals and only one carpel, 

 its position is not constant, for it is sometimes 

 superposed to one sepal, and sometimes in the in- 

 terval between two, wliich is more frequently the 

 case; but even these are not always the same ones. 



'' Frodf., i. 61, n. 2. — Icon. Dehsser., i. filj. — 

 Cimicifuqa Americana, L. C. Rich., ap. Miciix., 

 Am. Bor., i. 316. 



" Spec, 722.— DC, Prodr., 61, n. 5.—./. 

 mo)wc]yna Walt. — Cinufuga racemosa H.\rt. — 

 Botrophis Rafin. — Macrofi/s Hafix., X.- York 

 Jlled. Iiepo.1., u.,hc\.v. '3^0. — Fiscii. & Mev., 

 /. ci/.y 331. — ExDL., Gen., n. 1800. 



' I'lodr., i. 65, n. 'J. 



** Lislit. 299, t. 15t, " Christophorinnii, quasi 

 plantn S. Chrislophori." 



