4 THE RANUNCULUS FAMILY. [ Thalictrum. 
In dry situations, chiefly in limestone countries, throughout Europe and 
Russian Asia, except the extreme north, Seattered over Britain and 
Ireland, but not common. FV. summer. Several varieties, distinguished 
by size, colour, pubescence, or by the lower leaves being fully developed or 
reduced to sheaths, have been described as species; and three or four of 
these are British, but their characters are vague and uncertain, | 
[The most marked are ménus proper, which is 6 to 18 in, high, often 
glaucous and glandular, with the stem naked below; and 7. majus, Sm., — 
with a stem 2 to 4 feet high, more leafy below and larger leaflets. The 
latter is most common in the north. | 
3. 'T.flavum, Linn. (fig. 4). Yellow T., Meadow Rue.—The largest 
British species, generally 2 to 3 feet high, according to the form of the panicle 
and carpels, and deeper green than the last. Stem stout, furrowed. Leaves 
large, petiole twice or thrice divided, the leaflets much fewer than in 7’. 
minus, but larger, often an inch long, obovate or wedge-shaped at the 
base.. Panicle compact, rather corymbose. fPedicels short and erect even 
before the flower expands. Flowers, especially the stamens, decidedly 
ellow. 
z In moist meadows, and along ditches, in Europe and North Asia, 
scarcely extending so far north as 7. minus. Found in England, Ireland, 
and southern Scotland, but not very common. 7. summer. Here, again, 
some botanists distinguish several species, according as the rootstock is 
more or less creeping, or whether sessile leaflets resembling stipules are or 
not formed at the base of the branches of the petiole. 
Ill. ANEMONE. ANEMONE. 
Rootstock perennial. Leaves radical. Flower-stem naked, excepting 
an involucre of three leaves usually at a considerable distance from the 
flowers. Sepals 5 or more, frequently 6, coloured and petal-like, longer 
than the stamens. No petals. Stamens numerous. Carpels numerous, 
one-seeded, pointed or ending in a long feathery awn. 
A large genus, found in almost all temperate regions of the globe, chiefly 
characterized by the three leaves placed in a whorl, from halfway up the 
flowering stem to very near the flowers, according to the species. When 
much divided, these leaves may appear at first sight to be more numerous, 
but they always form a single whorl, and when closely examined they will 
always be found united at the base into three. 
Flowers purple, silky outside. Carpels ending in feathery awns 1. A. Pulsatilla. 
Flowers white or pink, glabrous. Carpels ending in a point 2. A. nemorosa. 
Several continental species are cultivated in our gardens, especially 4. 
pratensis, and the Hepatica (A. Hepatica), in which the involucre is so 
close to the flower as to resemble a calyx. Two South European species, 
A, apennina and A. ranunculoides, both with the habit and carpels of 
A. nemorosa, but the one with bright blue, the other with yellow flowers, 
have been established in our woods and plantations, and are hence included 
in most British Floras., a | 
1. A. Pulsatilla, Linn. (fig. 5). Pasque A., Pasque-flower.—Rootstock 
thick and woody. ' Radical leaves on long stalks, covered when young with 
silky hairs, and two or three times divided into long linear segments. Flower 
stalk 5 to 8 inches high, with the involucre at first near the flower, but 
