I. EANUNCULACEiE. 



Sepals large, often coloured. Petals small or none. 

 Sepals bright yellow and petal-like. Real petals 



none 7. Caltha. 



Sepals pale yellow and petal-like. Petals small, 



flat, and linear 8. TrollittS. 



Sepals greenish. Petals small and tubular . . 9. Hellebore. 

 Sepals green, smaller than the large red or white 



petals ' 14. Vmotsy. 



Cartels solitary, with several seeds. 



Fruit a capsule. Flowers spurred 11. Larkspur. 



Fruit a berry. Flowers nearly regular, small . . . 13. Actjea. 



Among old inhabitants of our gardens, which may sometimes be 

 found to spread spontaneously, are the exotic genera JErantliis (Winter 

 Aconite of our gardeners) and Isopyrum, both closely allied to Helle- 

 bore and Nigella (Devil-in- the-bush), which differs from Hellebore in 

 the more petal-like sepals, and the carpels closely connected together 

 to the middle, but diverging at the top into five long points. 



I. CLEMATIS. CLEMATIS. ' 



Stem usually climbing, and often woody at the base. Leaves op- 

 posite. Sepals 4 or 5, valvate in the bud, coloured and petal-like. No 

 real petals. Stamens numerous. Carpels numerous, 1-seeded. 



A numerous genus, well characterized, widely spread over the globe, 

 and almost the only representative of the Order in tropical climates. 

 Several European, Asiatic, and North American species are among the 

 hardy climbers cultivated in our gardens. 



1. Common Clematis. Clematis Vitalba, Linn. (Fig. 1.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 612. Traveller s Joy, Old Mans Beard.) 



A large climber, the only indigenous 

 plant which may give a faint idea of the 

 bush-ropes of the tropics. Its woody 

 stems will attain even the thickness of 

 the wrist and a length of several yards, 

 whilst the young branches spread to a 

 great extent over shrubs and trees, cling- 

 ing by their twisted petioles. Leaves 

 pinnate, usually with five ovate stalked 

 segments. Flowers greenish-white, in 

 loose panicles at the ends of short, axil- 

 lary or terminal branches. Carpels, when 

 ripe, very conspicuous from the persistent styles, which grow out into 

 long, feathery awns. 



Fie. 1. 



