FLORA INDICA. 



I. RANUNCULACEiE. 



Sepala 3-6, plerumque 5, hypogyna, decidua (in paucis persistentia), 

 regularia vel varie irregularia, herbacea vel colorata. Petala 3-15, in- 

 terdum parva, irregularia vel plane nulla. Stamina indefinita, antheris 

 basitixis 3-locularibus longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovaria plurima, 

 sccus torum elongatum vel globosum imbricata, vel uniserialia (1-5), 

 (liscreta, rarissime axi subcoha3rentia, 1-locularia, 1- vel pliu'iovulata. 

 Oarpella aohenia sicca vel foUicuIi, rarius baccata. Semina anatropa, 

 ilbumine copioso, embryone minuto. 



In accordance with our already stated intention to follow the arrangement of De 

 Candolle, our Plora begins with EanuncuJacets, This family was probably se- 

 lected to commence the series on account of its abundance in Europe, rather than 

 f'om any precise ideas of the exact degree of relationship of the different allied fa- 

 nUies. It is certainly more nearly allied to Berberidece and Fapaveraceee than to 

 tliose Orders which immediately follow it in the linear series, as is indicated by its 

 herbaceous habit and divided leaves. Tianuneulacece also exhibit a remarkable ana- 

 logy or affinity to two Orders which are usually placed at a great distance from it, 

 namely, Umbelliferis and Rosacea, by means of which a transition is established 

 letween the families of Apocarpom Thalamiflora and the great class of Myrtales ; 

 and, as we shall, under the next Order, have occasion to mention Dilleniacecs, ex- 

 Hbit a passage to a very different series of Orders, namely, Ternstromiacea and 

 '^jviracea. 



In the typical families of this class, that is to say, in Magnoliaceoe and Anonacece, 

 be floral organs arc (perhaps invariably) arranged in a ternary order, and in more 

 I an two rows. The closely-allied class to which Tafaveracece and Berteridea 

 \ oui?, agrees with these in respect of the multiplication of the verticils of the pe- 

 rianth, and partially also in the ternary arrangement of the parts of the flower, 

 'thouo'h in Papaveracete this is more generally binary. In Billeniacets, on the con- 

 (trary' the flowers are pentamerous, and the perianth in two rows. In Banuncu- 

 \lacea we have a complete case of transition, the arrangement being occasionally 

 Iternary, but more frequently quinary, while the petals in a considerable number of 

 Lnecies are twice as numerous as the sepals, though it is more usual to fiad them 

 nnual in number. This Order and the next may therefore be considered aberrant 

 niembei-s of the class ot Apocarpous Thalaniflora. 



\ The remarkable analogy in foliage between Banunculaceir and VmheHiferin was 



B 



