164 RAXITNCULACEAE. 



9 to 12, yellow or brownish red; petals 1l' to 18, 6 lines long, 4 lines broad, 

 nearly or quite concealed beneath the many stamens; anthers dark red; stig- 

 ma tic rays L5 to 24; fruit subglobose, \]/ 2 in. in diameter, with short con- 

 stricted nick and convex disk. — (Nuphar polysepalum Engelm.) 



Ponds: Santa Cruz and norl liward, especially in the high mountains; Sierra 

 Nevada. 



2. BRASENIA Schreb. 



Leaves peltate, oval, floating, long-petioled from fleshy creeping rootstocks. 

 Flowers small, dull purple. Sepals and petals 3 or 4. Stamens 12 to 18 with 

 filiform filaments. Carpels 4 to 18, distinct, becoming indehiscent clavate 

 pods. (Derivation unknown.) 



1. B. schreberi Gmel. Water Shield. Leaves l]/ 2 to 4 in. long; petals 

 linear, about 6 lines long. — (B,. peltata Pursh.) 



Lakes and slow streams: Stockton; Clear Lake; far northward and east- 

 ward. Also in the Old World. 



RANUNCULACEAE. Buttercup Family. 



Herbs with alternate or radical leaves (excepting Clematis, a shrubby 

 climber with opposite leaves). Flowers commonly perfect, solitary or in 

 terminal racemes or panicles, with the parts all free and distinct. Sepals 

 more than 2, usually 5, often petal-like. Petals usually 5 or more, but some- 

 times minute or altogether wanting. Stamens indefinite, usually numerous. 

 Pistils several, superior, always 1-celled, bearing a single style. Fruit an 

 achene, follicle or berry. Seeds containing abundant endosperm and .a min- 

 ute embryo. — Leaves mostly palmately divided or lobed, in all cases exstipu- 

 late, but the petioles often with a broad sheathing base. Flowers regular, 

 except in Delphinium and Aconitum, and most frequently with a pronounced 

 convex receptacle. Thalictrum is dioecious and Clematis polygamo-dioecious. 

 Actaea has only 1 pistil. 



A. Fruit a follicle; ovary several to many ovulcd. 

 Flowers without spurs, regular. 



Petals red, roundish, inserted on a fleshy disk 1. Paeon ia. 



Petals none; sepals 5, white 2. Isopyrum. 



Flowers with spurs, irregular, complete. 



Petals 5, all spurred 3. Aquilegia. 



Petals 4; upper sepal spurred 4. Delphinium. 



B. Fruit a berry; ovary with many ovules. 



Flowers very small, whitish, in a short raceme 5. Actaea. 



C. Fruit an achene; ovary usually with one ovule. 



Leaves opposite; woody climber; sepals 4; achene with a feathery tail 6. Clematis. 



Leaves alternate or radical. 

 Flowers perfect. 



Petals none; leaves all radical except an involucral whorl of 3 7. Anemone. 



Petals present. 



Sepals spurred; achenes on a slender spike-like receptacle; diminutive herbs 



8. Myosurus. 

 Sepals not spurred; achenes crowded on a convex receptacle so as to appear 



capitate 9. Ranunculus. 



Flowers dioecious, panicled; sepals small, greenish 10. Thalictrum. 



1. PAEONIA L. 

 Perennial herbs with ternately divided leaves. Flowers large, solitary and 

 terminal. Sepals and petals 5 or 6, the latter and the numerous stamens borne 

 on a fleshy disk adnate to tin- base of the calyx. Style short or none. Fol- 

 licles 2 to 5, thick and leathery, several-seeded. (Paion, the physician of the 

 gods.) 



