FLORA 



BRITISH WEST INDIAN ISLANDS. 



DICOTYLEDONBS. 



I. RANUNCULAGE^. 



Flower-orgoMS distinct from each other, the two inner whorls usually Indefinite. Anthers 

 adnate : cells extrorse or lateral. Hmhiryo minute, included in the top of the endosperm. 

 — Leaves sheathing, mostly dissected, vAthout stipules. 



The sap contains an acrid, volatile principle, and alkaloids occur in the tribe of Hellebores. 

 The Negroes bruise the leaves of •Clematis dioica and apply it as a blister. (Prf.) 



1. CLEMATIS, L. 



Sepals corolUne, valvate, 4 (-8). Petals none. Achenia numerous, sessile, heated by 

 the elongated style. — Vines {rarely erect herbs), climbing by the petioles; leaves opposite. 

 •^ 1. C. dioica, L. Climbing, pubescent or glabrescent ; leaves temately divided : seg- 

 ments ovate, entire; panicles polygamous; sepals cnneate-oblong, spreading, downy; 

 carpels ellipsoidal, tapering into the long, plumose tail. — SI. 1. 128. y. 1 ; Bioh. Oub. t. 1. — 

 C. americana. Mill. C. domiuica, Lam. C. glabra, DC. C. havanensis, Kth. C. pallida 

 and Catesbyana, Rich. Cub. {non Pursh). C. acapulcensis, H.A. I : a form with shaggy car- 

 pels. C. discolor, Gdrdn. I : a form with the leaves downy beneath. — A shrubby climber; 

 leaf-segments li"-2" long, variable ; sepals 4"'-6"' long, whitish ; carpels usually large, 2'" 

 -3'" long. — Hab. Jamaica I, Mac/., Dist., Prd., Alex., common on the lower hiUs j Domi- 

 nica!, Imray ; [Cuba ! and Mexico I to the southern tropic in Brazil !]. 



3. C. caripensis, Kth. Climbing, glabrescent ; leaves pinnatisect, or the divisions of 

 the ternatisect petiole pinnatisect ; segments usually 5, ovate, entire, glabrous ; panicles 

 dioecious, puberulous ; sepals "oblong, pubescent ;" carpels ellipsoidal or elUptical-lanceolate. 

 ' — ^Very similar to the preceding species, and not less widely, distributed through the Con- 

 tinent. — Hab, Trinidad !, Cr. ; [Central America I to Brazil I]. 



2*. RANUNCULUS, L. 



Petals 5 (-15), with a nectariferous spot. Seed solitary, erect. — Herbs. 



^ 3*. R. repens, L. Perennial ; stem furrowed at the top, branched ; leaves tripartite : "] 



segments cuneate, iucisely toothed ; calyx spreading (or reflexed) ; carpels rounded, glabrous, 



marginate, beaked by the subulate, recurved or straightish style. — Bchb. Ic. Germ. 3. t. 20. 



— Petals yellow. 



i8. tropicus. Calyx reflexed; petals 5-10; beak of carpels straightish. — R. prsemorsus 

 and Bonplaudianns, Kth. R. repens, Macf. I The Jamaica form, which, though growing 

 on the highest mountains, Macfadyen expressly mentions as introduced and escaped from a 

 garden, is quite identical with various specimens from the Andes (viz. B. prtemprsns, from 

 Quito : Benth. PI. Hartw. n. 875 ; the same from Peru ; B. Bonplandianua from Bogota : 



B 



