34 CBOWFOOT FAMILY. 



L EANTTNCULACK41, CROWFOOT FAMILY. 



Not perfectly distinguished by any one or two particular 

 marks, but may be known, on the whole, by having numerous 

 stamens, and usually more than one pistil, all the parts of the 

 flower distinct, and inserted on the receptacle. The calyx is 

 often colored like a corolla, when the latter is wanting. The 

 bulk of the seed is hard albumen, the embryo being very small. 

 The plants are herbs with an acrid watery juice (not milky or 

 colored), or a few barely shrubby. Many are cultivated for 

 ornament. 



1. Sepals valvate, or with their edges turned inward in the bud. Petals none, o\ 

 minute. Leaves opposite, the plants mostly climbing by their leaf -stalks. 



1. CLEMATIS. Sepals commonly 4, sometimes several, petal-like. 



2. Sepals imbricated in the bud. Not climbing, nor woody except in 22 and one of 21. 

 * Pistils several or many in a head, ripening into l-seeded akenes. 



+- Petals none; sepals petal-like. 



++ AH but lower leaves opposite or whorled, often simulating an involucre. Peduncles 

 \-flowered. 



2. ANEMONE. Involucre of 2 or more leaves much below the flower. Pistils very many 



In a close head (or fewer in one species), forming pointed or tailed akenes. 

 8. HEPATICA. Involucre close to the flower, exactly imitating a 3-leaved calyx. 

 Pistils 12-20. 



4. ANEMONELLA. Involucre at the base of an umbel of flowers. Pistils 4-15. 



H- -M- Leaves alternate. Flowers in panicles or corymbs. 



5. THALICTEUM. Leaves 2-3-ternately compound (Lessons, Fig. 161). 



6. TBAUTVETTEBIA. Leaves simple. Flowers perfect. 



+- - Petals and sepals both conspicuous, 5 or more. 



7. ADONIS. Petals and sepals with no pit or appendage at the base. Akenes in a head 



or short spike. 



8. MTOSURU8. Sepals with a spur at the base underneath. Petals on a slender claw, 



which is hollow at its apex. Akenes in a long, tail-shaped spike. 



9. RANUNCULUS. Sepals naked. Petals with a little pit or a scale on the short claw. 



Akenes in a head. 



* * Pistils few, rarely single, ripening into few- to many-seeded pods or berries. 



+- Ovules, and commonly seeds, more than 2. Herbs. 



H- flowers regular, not racemose ; sepals petal-like. 



= Petals in our species. 



10. ISOPTRUM. Sepals 5, broad, white. Leaves compound. 



11. OALTHA. Sepals 5-9, broad, yellow. Leaves simple. 



>= Petals 5 or more inconspicuous nectar-bearing bodies, usually very much smaller 



than the sepals. 

 I Leaves palmately parted or divided. 



12. TEOLLIUS. Petals with a little depression near the base. 

 18. HELLEBORUS. Petals hollow and 2-lipped. 



I 1 Leaves distinctly confound. 



