A EANUNCULACE^E. 



Order i. RANUNCULACE/E. 



Herbs ( Clematis shrubby) with colorless juice. Leaves alternate 

 (opposite in Clematis; the cauline whorled in Anemone), usually lobed 

 or ternately divided. Sepals 3—6, deciduous. Stamens oo, hypogynous; 

 anthers adnate, opening lengthwise, by slits. Pistils usually oo , distinct 

 and simple, becoming achenes or follicles (in Aclosa 1, becoming a berry). 



Petals wanting; 



Sepals 4; achenes plumose-tailed, Clematis 1 



" 5 or more: achenes without tails, Anemone 2 



" green; flowers unisexual: achenes ribbed, Thalictrum 7 



Flowers complete; 



Pistil 1; fruit berry-like, Act.«a 8 



Stamens few; achenes in a slender spike Myosurus 3 



" many; achenes in heads Banunculus 4 



Flowers irregular, one sepal spur-like Delphinium 5 



" regular, all 5 petals spur-like Aquilegia 6 



1. CLEMATIS, Diosc. Half-woody, climbing by tortuous petioles of 

 compound opposite leaves, in the axils of which are solitary or clustered 

 flowers (ours white). Sepals 4, petaloid, valvate in bud. Pistils oo ; 

 styles persistent, becoming feathery appendages of the large compressed 

 and capitate-clustered achenes. 



1. C. lasiantha, Nutt. Silky-pubescent; leaflets 3, ovate, coarsely 

 toothed or 3-lobed or -parted: fl. large, only one on each bibracteate 

 peduncle; sepals ?4 in. long. — Trailing over rocks and shrubs among the 

 hills. April. 



2. C. lisrusticifolia, Nutt. Glabrous or nearly so, or the leaves silky- 

 tomentose beneath: leaflets broadly ovate to lanceolate, usually 3-lobed: 

 fl. panicled in the axils; sepals }4 in- long- — Often climbing 30 ft. upon 

 small trees, in Alameda and Marin Counties. July. 



2. AXEMOJfE, Diosc. Perennial herbs with radical leaves lobed or 

 divided, and a cauline involucral whorl of 3. Flowers on erect pedun- 

 cles. Sepals 5 or more, petaloid, imbricate. Achenes merely pointed. 



1. A. Grayi, Behr. & Kell. Very slender, 6—14 in. high, from a 

 horizontal rootstock: radical leaf remote from the stem, trifld, the seg- 

 ments serrate; the involucral not far below the flower, petiolate, 

 3-foliolate; leaflets all coarsely serrate, the lateral ones 2-lobed: sepals 

 5 or 6, oval, usually bluish outside: achenes 12—20, oblong, 2 lines long, 

 pubescent, the fruiting pedicel coiled into a ring — Coast Range, in 

 moist shades. March — May. 



3. MYOSURUS, Label, (Mousetail). Small stemless glabrous 

 annual, with narrow entire leaves, and slender 1-flowered scapes. Sepals 



