Distribution of the Order Ranunculacece. 



13 



favors, has attended very little to system or plan, rather seeming 

 to have tripped about with this order in the most discursive and 

 sportive manner. We may imagine her to have been in her 



of country in Europe and North America, and, when met with in the 

 tropics, are found chiefly on the sides and summits of mountains. They 

 vary much in form, and even in the structure of the flower, but they 

 possess certain important characters in common, which admit of their 

 being- readily classified under one order. They are herbs or rarely shrubs, 

 possessing an acrid watery juice, and having leaves generally much 

 divided and with thin stalks more or less dilated and sheathing. The 

 flower is variable in form and size, and, in many of the plants, its parts 

 are very anomalous. These anomalies, however, may be generally looked 

 upon as mere modifications, occurring during the progress of develop- 

 ment, and in no way diminish that important anatomical resemblance in 

 structure, which may be traced throughout the whole order. 



The two following figures illustrate the general characters of the 

 flower, as exhibited in the Ranunculus. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 1. Diagram of flower of Ranunculus, showing a. an outer whorl 

 of 5 floral leaves, called Sepals; h. an inner whorl of 5 floral leaves, 

 called Petals ; c. an indefinite number of Stamens ; d. numerous carpels 

 in the centre, each containing a single seed. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 2. Section of same flower, showing the position of the parts. 

 a. Sepals; b. Petals; c. numerous Stamens attached to the elongated 

 receptacle or torus (t), and situated below d., the carpels or fruit, con- 

 taining the seeds. 



