ite) Ranunculacee—A donis. 
of the northern hemisphere in the Old World. The name 
is of classic origin. 
1. A. verndlis.— A handsome herbaceous perennial, about a 
foot high. Leaves sessile. Flowers bright yellow, about 2 
inches in diameter. Styles hooked. March. 
2. A. estivalis—An erect almost singled-stemmed annual, 
with flowers about half the size of the preceding, of a deep 
crimson, or more rarely orange, with a black spot at the base 
of the petals. Styles straight. 
3. A. Pyrendica.—Rather taller than No. 1, with distinct 
radical leaves on long stalks, and fewer petals. Flowers yellow. 
Summer. 
Trizg III.—RANUNCULES. 
Sepals imbricate. Carpels l-seeded, indehiscent; seeds 
ascending, raphe ventral. 
5. RANUNCULUS. 
Annual or perennial herbs with entire or dissected leaves, 
cauline often differing from the radical. Flowers double in 
some cultivated varieties, usually yellow or white, in terminal 
panicles, or sessile in the axils of the leaves. Sepals 3 to 5, 
caducous, imbricated in the bud. Petals usually 5, glandular 
at the base. Carpels many, with 1 erect seed. From the Latin 
rand, a frog, in allusion to the habitat of many species. A 
vast. genus, dispersed all over the world. This genus, like 
Aneméne, has its florists’, or what we might term classical 
species, and here also there seem to have been two original 
species, though the second is of less importance. 
1. R. Asidticus.—This was introduced into Western Europe 
towards the end of the sixteenth century, though it had pre- 
viously been long under cultivation in Asia. It is supposed to 
be indigenous in Persia ; but the first were brought from Con- 
stantinople. They were semi-double, but fertile, and thus seed 
was obtained from which new varieties were raised. They 
soon gained favour, and rapidly spread, especially in England 
and Holland, where the principal varieties originated. The 
Persian Ranunculus (fig. 8) is of smaller stature than the 
double Anemones, with less finely-cut foliage, and more 
spreading rose-like petals. Amongst the colours represented 
are yellow, bright orange, crimson, rose, brown, chestnut, dark 
purple, and pure white, with all their intermediate shades and 
