RANUNCULACEAE. 395 
number, one is led to think that the formation of these petals 
arises In some way from the metamorphosis of the stamens. 
The Hetieporzs have a calyx with five sepals, a corolla having 
from five to ten petals, short, tubulous, and bilabiate, an indefinite 
number of stamens and pistils, varying in number from two to ten. 
They are slightly coherent at the base; and the ovary, like that 
of the Columbine, contains two series of ovules. The fruit also is 
a follicle. To give the reader a better idea of the aspect of plants 
of this tribe, we will take the Crowfoot (/Telleborus fetidus), com- 
mon enough in stony places by the roadside, and in the glades of 
forests. It is a plant with a poisonous odour, with thick, generally 
erect, vertical stem, terminating in a taproot. The stem, which 
is evergreen during the winter, and ranging from three to six feet 
in height, is strong and erect, bare in its lower parts, leafy towards 
the summit, and divided into floriferous branches. The leaves, 
which adhere to the stem, are coriaceous, and of a spotted green 
colour, are petiolate, with lanceolated segments, straight, dentate, 
and generally free at the base. The flowers are inclined, and dis- 
posed in branching corymbes. The sepals are eoncave, erect, and 
greenish, often edged with purple. The follicles are oblong, and 
rminate in a long beak or spur. 
The Hellebores are all interesting to lovers of gardening, because 
for the most part they flourish during the winter; such, in parti- 
cular, are the Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, and the little 
Yellow Hellebore, known to botanists under the name of Eranthis 
hiemalis, which flourishes when the snow begins to fall. 
The Larkspurs (Delphinium) have a calyx with five unequal 
petaloid sepals, the upper with straight, pointed, horn-like spur. 
The petals, which in some species are four in number, in others are 
reduced to only one by some process of abortion and consolidation, 
—for originally there are always eight petals, six of which are 
developed 4n pairs opposite three of the sepals, while two are 
developed singly opposite the two other sepals. However that 
may be, the two superior petals in one case, and the single and 
Superior petal in the other case, are prolonged in a pointed horn _ 
eluded in the spur of the calyx. The stamens, which are very 
humerous, are disposed in eight series, opposite to the eight original 
The carpels, from one to five in number, are free, sessile, 
