CHAP. I. 72ANUNCULA V CE/E. FMO^NIA. 249 



to have been introduced into England in 1797: it is found in some gardens 

 and nurseries. The price, in London, is Is. 6d. a plant ; at Bollwyller, ? ; 

 and at New York, 1 dollar. 



1 5. A. occidentals Horn. The Western Atragene. 



Identification. Sprengel's Syst. ; Swt. Hort. Brit. ; Don's Mill. 



Synonyme. Clematis occidentalis Dec. Prod., 1. p. 10. 



Spec. Char. Leaves opposite, ternate; leaflets nearly entire, shining; sepals ovate-lanceolate; 

 flowers somewhat bell-shaped. (Don's Mill., i. p. 10.) Native country, and colour of the flower, un- 

 known. 1818. 

 Description, fyc. We have never seen this species, nor is any thing stated in books respecting it, 



further than what we have given above. 



Sect. II. PmomiACEJE Dec. 



This section, or tribe, is the only one contained in De Candolle's second of 

 his two divisions of -ffanunculaceae, namely, in islanunculaceae spuriae, and is 

 identical with that division. It is at once distinguishable from the other divi- 

 sion, named i?anunculaceae verae, by the character of the anthers opening to 

 admit the escape of the pollen on the side next the ovaries. In the other, 

 the anthers open on the side outward to the ovaries. De Candolle has ques- 

 tioned (P?-od.) whether the Tfanunculaceae spuriae, or Psdonidcece, may not be 

 a proper order. They differ from Clematideas in the character named, and, 

 besides, in having the aestivation imbricate, and the carpels from one-seeded to 

 many-seeded. The ligneous species are included in two genera, Pxbnia and 

 Xanthorhiza, and of the characteristics of these the following are contrasting 

 ones : — 

 d A50 v n\L4 L. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5 or more, orbicular, without claws. 



Stamens numerous. Ovaries 2 — 5, girded by a fleshy disk. Carpels each 



containing several seeds. 

 Xanthorhiza L. Sepals 5, deciduous. Petals 5, truncately 2-lobed, 



narrowed into a pedicel. Stamens 5 — 10. Ovaries 5 — 10, not girded by a 



fleshy disk. Carpels each containing 1 — 3 seeds. 



Genus I. 



PJEO^IA L. The Peony. Lin. Syst. Polyandria Di-Penlagynia. 



Identification. The term Pecbnia was applied by the Greeks to these plants, which have continued 

 to bear that name ever since. 



Synonymes. Peony, Piony ; Pivoine, Fr. ; Gichtterrose, andPaonie, Ger. ; Rosa del Mcnte, Span-, 

 Peonia, Jtal. 



Derivations. The term Paebm'a is said to have been given by Hippocrates and Dioscorides, in com- 

 memoration of Paeon, the physician who first used it in medicine. Mr. D. Don has stated (Sw. Br. 

 Fl.-Gard., 2d series, 238.) that it is much more probable that it is derived from Paeonia, a moun- 

 tainous country of Macedonia, where some of the species grow wild. Most of the other European 

 names are mere adaptations of the classical one, except gichtterrose, Ger., which signifies the 

 gouty rose, from the knobby, or gouty, appearance of the roots of the herbaceous species. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of 5 leafy, unequal, permanent sepals. Petals from 5 to 10, 

 somewhat orbicular. Stamens numerous. Disk fleshy, girding the ovaries. 

 Carpels follicular, from 2 to 5, large, many-seeded, terminated with thick 

 bilamellate stigmas. Seeds rather globose, shining. Leaves biternate or 

 bipinnate. Flowers large, rosy, or rosy and white, usually with a strong 

 disagreeable smell. (Do?i's Mill., i. 65., with adaptation.) Height from 3 ft. 

 to 10 ft. 



Description. There is but one ligneous species, P. Moutan ; but there are 

 several varieties of this : all are undershrubs, which never attain a great height, 

 and the wood of which always retains a herbaceous character, with a large 

 pith. The roots are ramose rather than tuberous. 



Geography, History, Sfc. The ligneous species is found in China and Japan ; 



