2 FLORA OP TASMANIA. [Ranunculacece . 
it. Pceonia, Delphinium, Aquilegia, Adonis, Actaa, and other plants common in the gardens of Tasmania 
should be examined, for they show, besides the modifications mentioned above, that the carpels are often 
many-seeded, and fruit sometimes berried, the sepals and petals extremely irregular, the calyx or corolla 
absent, the stamens assuming extraordinary forms, the scale or pit on the petals of Ranunculus becoming 
the spur of the Columbine, etc. The torus presents an enormous disc in Pceonia. 
All Ranunculacece are more or less acrid, and when highly so are very poisonous ; Clematis is however 
inert, and the acrid principle is so sparingly developed in the roots of some tuberous Ranunculi, that they 
may be eaten with impunity. I know of no Australian or Tasmanian species having been turned to any 
profitable use. The structure of the wood of Clematis is very curious. The other Australian genera of 
the Order are Myosurus, and probably Caltha, which both occur in New Zealand. Of these Caltha is the 
most remarkable ; I have seen no Australian specimen of it, but according to a letter just received from 
Dr. F. Midler, that botanist appears to have discovered it on the Alps of South-eastern Australia. 
Gen. I. CLEMATIS, L. 
Sepala 4-8, valvata. Petala 0. Stamina 6 v. plura. Carpella plurima, in caudam plerumque plu- 
mosam producta. 
Sepals valvate. Petals 0. Stamens generally many. Carpels many, with one pendulous ovule, and a style 
which becomes lengthened into a feathery awn. — Shrubby plants, climbing by their leaf-stalks, rarely erect, with 
woody stems, and compound or pinnatisect, rarely simple, opposite leaves. 
The majority of the Tasmanian and Australian species (of which there are six or eight) appear, like the New 
Zealand ones, to be partly or wholly dioecious, the male flowers bearing imperfect pistils, and the female flat fila- 
ments with imperfect anthers. Most of them have the connective of the anther produced into a spur or point of 
• try variable length, and which is sometimes jointed on to the top of the anther. This peculiarity distinguishes 
all the Tasmanian species, except C. Unearifolia, from the New Zealand ones. Steudel (Plant. Preiss.) indeed 
states the C. indivisa of New Zealand to be a native of South-eastern Australia ; but this is not only most impro- 
bable, but the character he gives does not suffice to identify that plant. The species are extremely variable, 
especially in amount of pubescence, size of leaves, leaflets, and flowers, and size and shape of sepals, but not more 
so in these respects than are their European and Asiatic congeners. All belong to one section of the genus, 
except the structure of the anthers be used to divide the species : and this character, though so easily appreciati <i 
in the Tasmanian species, is not so in some American ones, where the anthers terminate in mere points. The 
inflorescence consists of either one-flowered axillary peduncles, or com Lch are reduced branches 
with small leaves or bracts at the axils. Mr. Gunn has sent me copious notes on this genus, which prove that the 
species are as difficult to distinguish in a living as in the dried state. All have sweet-scented flowers. (Name from 
K\r)ixa, a vine-shoot, which the long branches resemble in growth.) 
1. Clematis coriacea (DC. Syst. i. 146); scandens, foliis ternatis v. biternatis, foliolis basi 3-nerviis 
ovatis cordatis ovato- v. oblongo-lanceolatis anguste-lanceolatisve integerrimis v. varie grosse v. argute ser- 
ratis, sepalis 4 linearibus lineari-oblongisve acutis obtusisve, aristis antherarum loculos |-4 sequantibus, car- 
pellis latis pubescentibus.— DC. Prodr. i. 5. C. aristata, Nob. in Hook. Journ. Rot. ii. 399 (1840), non 
DC An C. glycinioides, DC. I. c? C. pubescens, Endl. in Ilvgel Ea. Plant. Swan River, No. 1. C. 
discolor, Steudel, Plant. Preiss. i. 2G2. {Gunn, 631, 773, and 1972.) 
Hab. Throughout the Island, in thickets and forests ; abundant in rich soil and very damp s 
ascending to 3000 feet.— (El. Nov. Dec.) (v. v.) 
Distrib. New South AVales, South-east and South-west Australia. 
Roots creeping. Stems sometimes 100 feet long, scandent. Leaflets ternate or bitemate, enti 
