ranunculace.e. 13 



Plate 1. 

 ATRAGENE, L. 



Petala (seu staminodia) plurima, angusta, calyce 4-sepalo 



breviora. Styli persistentes barbati. Gemmae squamosa?. — 



Castera omnia Clematidis. 



Atragene, Linn. Gen. 695. Juss. Gen. p. 232. Endl. Gen. 47G9. 

 Clematis, Sect. Atragene, DC. 



Calyx of 4 petaloid membranaceous sepals, spreading, 

 valvate with the edges more or less induplicate in aestiva- 

 tion, deciduous. Petals, or rather sterile stamens, numer- 

 ous, hypogynous, much shorter than the calyx, spatulate or 

 unguiculate, mostly bearing traces of an anther, passing by 

 gradual transition into the proper stamens. Stamens indefi- 

 nite, hypogynous, in several series : filaments flattened : an- 

 thers fixed by the base, innate, or nearly so, two-celled, 

 opening longitudinally. Pistils numerous (about 20), capi- 

 tate-imbricated on the globular receptacle, distinct : ovary 

 one-celled, one-ovuled, prolonged into a large style, which 

 is densely hairy below : stigma unilateral, occupying the 

 inner (ventral) side of the naked summit of the style. 

 Ovule suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous, 

 with the raphe dorsal ! 



Fruit a head of sessile achenia, bearing the persistent 

 and elongated plumose-bearded styles : receptacle scro- 

 biculate. Seed suspended, conformed to the cell. Albu- 

 men between corneous and fleshy. Embryo minute, next 

 the hilum, oblong : radicle thick, superior ; the cotyledons 

 about their length, approximate. 



Suffruticose plants, climbing by their leaf-stalks ; with 

 opposite trifoliolate or biternately compound leaves, develop- 

 ed from scaly buds. Leaflets toothed or entire. Flowers 

 large (blue-purple or yellowish-white), solitary on single 



