6 I. EANUNCULACEiE. [Clematis. 



3. C. microphylla (small-leaved), DC. Benth.in Fl. Austr. i. 7. A tall 

 woody climber, with the habit of the smaller-leaved varieties of C. aristata. 

 Leaflets mostly twice ternate, narrow, from ovate-lanceolate or oblong to nearly 

 linear, ^ to lin. long, but sometimes simply ternate and larger and broader, or 

 three times ternate and much smaller. Flowers rather smaller than in C. artstata, 

 usually numerous in short panicles. Sepals cream-coloured, from oblong- 

 lanceolate to narrow-linear, mostly about ^in. rarely near lin. long, glabrous or 

 pubescent. Stamens with unequal filaments as in C. aristata, but the anthers are 

 always very shortly oblong or ovate and very obtuse, without any terminal 

 appendage. Achenes of C. aristata, but usually with thicker, often wrinkled or 

 warted margins and longer tails.— F. Muell. PI. Vict. i. 4 ; C. hneanfoha, 

 Steud. ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 4, i. 1 ; C. steaophylla, Fras. ; Hook, in Mitch. 

 Trop. Aust. 36 ^. 



Hab. : Darling Downs, Springsure. 



Var. Fawcettii. Leaflets twice ternate, membranous, * to IJin. long, broad or rhomboid- 

 lanceolate, incised and acutely toothed, the petioles and p^tiolules rather long. Peduncles 

 bearing 3 to 5 flowers on somewhat long pedicels. Sepals about lin. long, and 1 lirie broad, 

 acute, margins somewhat tomentose. Anthers oblong, about 1 line long. Styles plumose at 

 the ends. — G. Fawcetti, F. v. M. Fragm. x. 1.' 



Var. colorata (coloured). This variety differs from the last mentioned in its dull-purple flowers, 

 and in the segments of the leaf being usually narrow-linear. 



Hab. : Killarney. 



2. MYOSURUS, Linn. 



(Inflorescence resembling tail of mouse). 



Sepals usually 5, produced below their insertion into a small spur. Petals 5, 

 small and very narrow, almost tubular at the top, often wanting. Carpels 

 numerous, with one pendulous ovule in each. Achenes closeljl' packed in a long 

 slender spike, flat on the back, or with a raised nerve ending in the short per- 

 sistent style. — Small annuals, with linear radical entire leaves. Flowers very 

 small, on leafless scapes. 



A genus comprising, besides the following, only one other species, M. aristatus, Geyer, 

 distinguished by the more prominent and spreading points of the achenes, which, although 

 originally described from Nortlj America and from Chili, has also been found in New Zealand, 

 and may not improbably appear in Australia. — Benth. 



1. IVE. minimus (very small), Linn., Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 8. Mouse tail. 

 Leaves sometimes not an inch long, sometimes attaining 2 or even 3in., including 

 their long petiole. Scapes shorter or longer than the leaves. Sepals yellowish or 

 pale green, very small ; petals rarely longer than the calyx, and in the Australian 

 specimens often deficient. Stamens usually 4 or 5, and seldom above 10. 

 Achenes sometimes near 300, the head lengthening into a spike of 1 to 2in. — 

 M. australis, F. v. M. in Trans. Phil. Soc. Vict. i. 6. 



Hab. : Southern Queensland, near the N.S.W. border. — Bev. Dr. Wm. Woolls. 



3. RANUNCULUS, Linn. 

 (From rana, a frog, many species being found in boggy places.) 



Sepals usually 5, deciduous. Petals as many or more, usually marked with a 

 small nectariferous pit, or a minute scale near the base. Carpels several, with a 

 single ascendipg ovule in each. Achenes in a globular or ovoid head or oblong 

 spike, tipped or beaked by the persistent hooked or straight style. — Herbs either 

 annual or with a perennial rootstock, and tufted entire or variously out radical 

 leaves. Flowering stems either a leafless scape, or several-flowered, bearing few 

 leaves and chiefly at the base of the peduncles. Flowers yellow, white, or red. 



A large genus abounding in the temperate arid colder regions of both the northern and southern 

 hemispheres, but more especially in the former, and almost confined in the tropics to the higher 

 mountain ranges. Benth. 



