FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 103 © 
sepals and petals distinct. The stamens vary from few to many, and 
are hypogynous, or inserted on the receptacle beneath the pistils. 
On account of the ease with which the floral parts of most Ranun- 
culaceae can be examined, this family has long been a favorite with 
amateur students, and in the old sequence established by Bentham and 
Hooker, the Ranunculaceae were placed at the head, chiefly on account 
of their simplicity of structure. In many respects the group as it 
stands is an artificial one, for it includes plants with berry-like fruit, as 
in Actaea and its relatives; plants bearing achenes, like the crowfoots ; 
and plants with small capsules or follicles like the columbine and lark- 
spur. But while the genera have of late years been frequently divided, 
Hepatica being removed from Anemone, and Atragene from Clematis, for 
example, the family has been 
treated as an aggregate. 
Members of the Ranuncula- 
ceae are among the first flowers to 
welcome us in early spring. The 
hepatica, well shown in the beau- 
tiful accompanying photograph, 
unfolds its fuzzy flower buds on 
rocky slopes with the first balmy 
breath of spring, often when crev- 
ices of the adjacent cliffs are still 
sealed with snow. A little later, 
various species of Ranwnculus 
brighten the open woodlands and 
pastures with flecks of golden yel- 
low, a color reflected from the 
near-by swamps in the flowers of 
the marsh-marigold (Caltha palus- 
tris). The anemone and the rue- Fig. 86. The early meadow-rue (Thalictrnm 
dioicum). After Britton & Brown, Ill. FI. 
anemone help to carpet the ground, = north. us. 
while the feathery, grayish-white 
masses of meadow-rue (Thalictrum dioicum) give a ghostly suggestion 
to the woods. In midsummer various forms of clematis serve as a re- 
minder of the family. 
The beauty of most ranunculaceous flowers in the wild state has 
rendered it unnecessary to develop them to a marked degree in culti- 
vation, but the larkspurs have been greatly improved, while the genus 
Paeonia, which has its headquarters in eastern Asia, has attained a 
wonderful prominence in the hands of the horticulturists. Many of 
the large double paeonies are fully equal to roses in the beauty of their 
coloring, and in delicacy of texture. The columbines, moreover, being 
