78 XATUIiAL mSTOnY OF PLANTS. 



scent. Tlie yellow colourini^ matter of the perianth of certain 

 Crowfoots, and of the JMarsh-niarigold, are said to be used to colour 

 butter. Many of the Ranunculaccae, especially those with double 

 flowers,' serve to deck our gardens. Manuncuhis and Anemone 

 were among- the six flowers which the botanists of last century 

 deemed alone worthy of cultivation in the parterre. The species 

 of Clemafls are prized as climbers to cover arbours and walls. 



Not less are the Pseonies appreciated in our gardens for the size 

 and splendour of their petals, the sweet perfume they often give out, 

 and the beauty of the fruits when half open. The male and female 

 Preonies (P. eoraUina and officinalis) were formerly highly valued 

 medicines.- Stone, colic, icterus, the severest neuroses, epilepsy, con- 

 vulsions, mania, the bite of venomous animals, abscesses — in short, 

 nearly every known disease was thought to be cured by them. Now 

 they are hardly used at all. The rootstock is somewhat astringent ; 

 the petals serve for making a distilled water and syrup of slightly 

 sedative action ; the seeds are emetic and cathartic. It is not 

 known why necklaces made of them possess in certain districts the 

 reputation of facilitating the dentition of children. 



Since the time of Krapfen, it has been remarked that the irritant 

 principle in the Ranuncnlacea has so little stability as to be usually dis- 

 sipated by heat, boiling, or drjdug. The vegetable acids, and sometimes 

 water alone, will destroy it ; while its action is said to be increased 

 by wine, alcohol, honey, and sugar. It does not exist in organs not 

 fully developed, which explains how, in some countries, j^eople have 

 been able to use the young shoots of Clematis, Ficaria, and several 

 Banunculi properly so called, as aliments.^ It would be prudent to 

 exclude every plant of this order from our articles of food. It has 

 often been remarked how strange it is that the Ranimculacece,%Q closely 

 analogous to the Papaveracece in most features of their organization, 

 are yet almost all unprovided with the abundant milky juice, pos- 

 sessing quite peculiar properties, found in a large number of the 

 latter. However, the existence of laticiferous vessels has been pointed 

 out in several of the Banunculacece." 



' In Seemann'3 Journal of Botany (1861), aquatiUs arc used as fodder in England and 



(177),\villbelbund ancnumcrationofall tlieculti- Alsace. It appears that the seeds of several 



vatcd species of this order with double flowers. Pajonies ai e also cooked and eaten. (Duchesne, 



* (iuuoruT, op. ril., 7Ul. /. cit.) 



3 Ratwnculm auricomus and tanuginosu.i ^ ScnuLTZ (C. H.), Mevi. Circ. (1839), 35, 



are boiled and eaten. The dry leaves of E. 41, 02. 



