258 PLANT FAMILIES: DICOTYLEDONS. 



If fruit is present determine the number of seed in a ripe fruit ; and also 

 what parts of the flower make up the fruit. 



If there is time a comparison of the flowers, fruit, and leaves of different 

 species of the ranunculus will be found interesting, especially species from 

 dry and wet ground as well as some of the species which grow in the 

 water. 



Construct the formula for the buttercup flower ; also construct the floral 

 diagram. 



Material. — Entire plants, some flowering stems with flowers, some with 

 fruit. Fresh material when possible. 



The Buttercup (ranunculus). 



416. Other crowfoots. — Many of the crowfoots or buttercups 

 (ranunculus) with bright yellow flowers grow in similar situa- 

 tions. The " wood anemone" (anemone), small plants with 

 white flowers, and the rue anemone (anemonella), which resem- 

 bles it, both flower in woods in early spring. The common 

 virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana) occurs along streams or on 

 hillsides, climbing over shrubs or fences. The vine is some- 

 what woody. The leaves are opposite, petioled, and are com- 

 posed of three leaflets, which are ovate, three-lobed, and usually 

 strongly toothed, and somewhat heart-shaped at the base. The 

 flower clusters are borne in the axils of the leaves, and therefore 

 may also be opposite. The clusters are much branched, form- 

 ing a convex mass of beautiful whitish flowers. The sepals are 

 colored and the petals may be absent, or are very small. The 

 stamens are numerous, as in the members of the crowfoot 

 family. The pistils are also numerous, and the achenes in fruit 

 are tipped with the long plumose style, which aids them in 

 floating in the air. 



417. Character of the ranunculaceae. — Some of the charac- 

 ters of the ranunculaceae we recognize to be the following: The 

 plants are mostly herbs, the petals are separate, and when the 

 corolla is absent the sepals are colored like a corolla. The 

 stamens are numerous, and the pistils are either numerous or 

 few, but they are always separate from each other, that is they 

 are not fused into a single pistil (though sometimes there is but 



