ADONIS. 



This Adonis is one of the talleft, with a copioufly-branched, 

 furrowed ^£m ; light -green leaves ; and long-ftalkedjyowfrj, 

 which we cannot, with De CandoUe, term fmall ones, being, 

 as far as we have feen, of the full fize of any annual fpecies 

 of its genus. Tlie petals are ulually numerous, of a mod 

 vivid fcarlet. Fruit long, but not interrupted, except bv 

 accident. We cannot but confider our friend M. De Can- 

 dolle as having cited Morifon, on the prefent occafion, with 

 lefs accuracy than ufual, acd we have made an alteration 

 herein ; fee fpecies 4th. 



8. A. dentata. Toothed-feeded Adonis. " Delile 



Egypt. 17. Defer, t. 53. f. 1." De Cand. n. 8 



" Calyx hairy at the bafe. Petals flat, oval-oblong, rather 

 longer than the calyx. Seeds reticulated ; tuberculated and 

 toothed at the bafe ; difpofed in a long uninterrupted fpike." 

 — Native of corn-fields and barren ground, in E^-vpt and 

 Cyprus ; as well as in Provence, between Digne and Col- 

 mars. The Jlem is angular and ilriated, firm, branched. 

 Flo'wers on (hort italks. In the Egyptian fpecimens, the 

 petals are oval, yellow, with blackilh claws ; feeds furnilhed 

 at the bafe with tooth-like prickles, finely corrugated, lefs 

 crefted at the back, and difpofed in a flecder fpike. In the 

 Provence variety, the petals are oblong, and flame-coloured ; 

 feeds lefs toothed or tuberculated at the bafe, more crowded, 

 lying over each other with their crefls, fo as to form a con- 

 tinued fpike an inch long. De CandoUe. 



Seft. 2. Confiligo. Matthioh, De CandoUe. 

 Petals from eight to fifteen, always oblong, flat. Stamens 

 from 25 to 30. Seeds, collected into an ovate head, each 

 ovate, beaked with its hooked recurved llyle. Roots peren- 

 nial, thick at the crown, blackifh, with cluftered fibres. 



9. A. vernalis. Spring Adonis. Linn. Sp. PI. 771. 

 De Cand. n. 9. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 4. Curt. Mag. 

 t. 134. Lamarck f. 3. (A. apennina ; Jac. Auftr. t. 44. 

 EUeborus niger verus ; Trag. Hiil. 406, not 206. Helle- 

 borinum ; Cord. Annot. 93. Helleborus niger ferulaceus ; 

 Lob. Ic. 784. Park Parad. 291. f. 6. Ger. Em. 746.) 



8. Mentzelii ; De Cand. excluding the fyn. of Linnsus. 

 (Helleborus niger ferulaceus, caule geniculate, flore mag^o, 

 tulipae rainoris inftar ; Mentz. Pugill. t. 3 ; copied in Morif. 

 fed. 6. t. 9. f. 2.) 



y. Sibirica, Palrin ; De Cand. (A. n. 43 ; Gmel. 

 Sib. v. 4. 200.) 



Root fomewhat tuberous. Stem branched from the 

 bottom. Petals ten, fifteen, or more, eUip tic -lanceolate. 

 Calyx downy. Seeds hairy. — Native of mountainous or 

 alpine fituations, or open hills,in the ifle of Oeland, Germany, 

 the fouth of France, Switzerland, and Italy. Frequent 

 with us in gardens, flowering in the early fpring. The 

 tuberous crown of the black perennial root, fends down many 

 long, fimple, rather ilout fibres. Theflems are herbaceous, a 

 foot high, ftriated, leafy, more or lefs branched from the 

 lower part, in an alternate order, rarely befprinkled with a 

 few loofe fcattered hairs. Leanes crowded, feflile, alternate, 

 fmooth, in many three-cleft, linear, acute, entire fegments ; 

 channelled above. Flowers terminal, fohtary, nearly feffile, 

 large and handfome, an inch and a half or two inches broad, 

 of a bright Ihining yellow. Calyx-leaves concave, ovate, 

 downy, ttriated. Petgls twice as long, fomeumes above an 

 inch, ufually ten or twelve, but fometimes, even in a wild ftate, 

 above twenty ; purplilh beneath ; varymg in breadth, but 

 always fomewhat elliptical, either obtufe or acute, a Uttle 

 crenate. Stamens numerous, capillary, {hort, with vertical 

 quadrangular anthers. Germans numerous, ovate, com- 

 preffed, more or lefs covered \vith Hiort foft hairs, and hooked 

 with the recurve A flyles, coUefted into a globular head, the 

 Vol. XXXIX. 



Jali much elongated as the_/rW/ ripens. We readdy follow 

 De CandoUe in thinking the plant of MentzeUus, (fee g.) a 

 very inconfiderable variety, differing only in having (hort 

 and fimple Jlems, with larger flowers : but Linnaus has 

 furely conmutted a great error in referring this plarit to his 

 apennina. The y of De CandoUe is faid to have hkewife a 

 large flower. 



10. A. apennina. Apennine Adonis. Linn. Sp. Pll 

 ed. I. 548, excluding Mentzehus's fynonym, ed. 2. 772. 

 WiUd. n. 5. — Root fomewhat tuberous. Stem branched iX 

 tlie top. Petals fifteen, obovate. Calyx fmooth. Seeds 

 fringed — Native of Siberia and the Apennines, accord- 

 ing to Linnaeus, who cultivated this plant at Upfal, as 

 appears by the original fpecimen in his herbarium. He 

 always confidered this fpecies as very near the laft, and has 

 been unufuaUy precife in marking their differences. Tl* 

 flem of the prefent is fifteen or eighteen inches high, with 

 feveral branches about the upper part, not from the lower. 

 Segments of the leaves more numerous, lanceolate, and 

 fhining. Calyx yeUowifh, fmooth, flat, without veins. 

 Petals obovate, imbricated, generaUy more numerous. Sta^^ 

 mens much reflexed. The germens feem to be fringed only, 

 not all over downy. Linnxus concludes by obfer-ing that 

 the former is entirely a vernal plant, as we find it ; but the 

 prefent lafls far into the furamer. Neverthelefs our intelli- 

 gent friend M. De CandoUe, who never faw tliis fpecies but 

 in the Linnsean coUeftion, was induced, probably by the 

 fynonjTn of Mentzelius, which cannot be the fame, to reduce 

 it to vernalis. We find more difficulty in underftanding the 

 two following. 



1 1 . A. volgenjis. Wolga Adonis. De Cand. n. 9. *addend. 

 545. ("A. apennina; Pallas Nov. Afl. Petrop. v. 10." 

 Steven, who fent fpecimens to De CandoUe.) — " Radical 

 and lower ftem-leaves reduced to flightly (heathing fcales ; 

 middle and uppermoil leaves feflUe. Seeds fomewhat downy. 

 Calyx externally hair)-. Petals ten or twelve, oblong."— 

 Gathered by Mr. Steven, near the banks of the Wolga. 

 Perennial. Intermediate between vernalis and pyrenaiea, 

 differing from the former in having a branched _^fm, more 

 diftant leaves, often wanting on the lower part of the 

 branches, and much lefs downy fteds. From the latter 

 it is diftinguithed by having its lower leaves abortive, 

 like fcales, and the feeds, at leafl while young, fome- 

 what downy. From both it differs in the calyx being 

 extemaUy downy or finely hairy, not fmooth. Mr. Steven 

 met with A. vernalis likewife in Tauris. De CandoUe. 

 Thefe remarks of our learned friend caufe us no fmaU 

 perplexity. All our fpecimens of A. vernalis, from Swit- 

 zerland and the fouth of France, as weU as the authentic 

 Linnaean fpecimen, and one from proteflor Jacquin, have a 

 downy calyx, and mofl of them branched _^^ffw. The half- 

 ripe feeds in Jacquin's plant are fparingly downy all over ; 

 the germens of thofe from Switzerland fcarcely downy 

 at all. 



h.. pyrenaiea. P)Tenean Adonis. De Cand. n. 10. 



12. 



" Fl. Franc, v. 5. 635." (A. apennina; Gouan lUuftr, 

 33.) — " Radical leaves on long (lalks, temate ; leaflets in 

 many deep fegments : upper leaves felTde. Fruit finootb. 

 Petals eight or ten, oblong-wedgefhaped, undivided." — 

 Found by Gouan in the valley of Eynes, in the eaftem 

 Pyrenees, flowering in Jul) . The other places of growth, 

 mentioned by De CandoUe, are aU beft omitted. He direSs 

 us in his Addenda to ftrike out the reference to PaUas, as 

 belonging to A. volgenfis ; and perhaps alio that of Fifcher, 

 A. chterophylla. To the latter alteration we heartily affent. 

 Dr. Fifcher's own fpecimen, feen in our hands by De 

 L 1 CandoUe, 



