STATISTICS OF THE ORDER RANUNCULACES. , 
are somewhat later. These three last mentioned may be called 
midsummer plants. Thalictrum alpinum, T. minus (T. minus, T. 
flexuosum, T. saxatile), and T. flavum are in flower at the same 
period. The alpine and meadow species, soon pass from the 
flowering state, and should be looked for about the first week in 
June. The only late flower of the Order is the Clematis (Virgin’s 
Bower) ; we have never seen this plant in flower earlier than 
July or August, though we will not maintain that some plants 
may not flower by the end of June. We do not think that its 
usual period of flowering (in the south of England) is so early as 
June, a date we have seen assigned to it. Only a very few spe- 
cies of this Order, viz. Larkspur, Pheasant’s Eye, and a few 
Ranunculi, are found in flower all the summer months and last 
till autumn; the great majority of them are spring and early 
summer plants. 
The species of this extensive Order are distributed as follow :— 
1. All the Batrachium section of Ranunculus, viz. R. hederaceus, 
R. cenosus, R. aquatilis, R. fluitans, ete., are aquatics, 7. e. they 
grow in water, or in water and mud. AR. Lingua, R. ophioglossi- 
Jolius, and R. sceleratus are aquatic, though they are occasionally <- 
found in wet, marshy places. Ranunculus Flammula and Caltha 
palustris are palustrals, 7. e. they grow in marshes. All the 
British species of Thalictrum are pascual (pasture plants). Ane- 
mone Pulsatilla belongs also to this group, together with Ranun- 
culus acris, R. repens, R. bulbosus, Ficaria ranunculoides, Trollius 
europeus, and Actea spicata. The sylvan plants of the Order are 
the Anemones (excluding A. Pulsatilla), Ranunculus auricomus, 
Columbine, and both the Hellebores. Clematis Vitalba is a septal 
plant, and is almost the only hedge-plant of this Order. Hedle- 
borus foetidus, though generally found under hedges, is not con- 
fined to this habitat; it abounds at High Laver, near Ongar, 
Essex, as noticed by Ray, but it occurs also in Rockingham 
Forest, Northamptonshire. The agrarial plants are all annuals, 
viz. Adonis autumnalis, Ranunculus arvensis, R. hirsutus, and 
R. parviflorus, though we have seen the last-mentioned about 
roadsides ; Adonis, Myosurus, and Delphinium are also agrarial 
annuals. The Piony and Monkshood are very local. Ranun- 
culus alpestris and Thalictrum alpinum are the only alpine spe- 
cies, and they are pascuals. Trollius and Actea grow commonly 
at considerable altitudes. In estimating the horizontal distribu- 
N. S. VOL. I. , D 
