194 



RANUNCULACEiE. 



Leaves all radical, except an involucral whorl of 3; fruit an «chene 



6. Anemone. 



Leaves all opposite; sepals 4; fruit a feathery-tailed achene; woody 



climber 5. Clematis. 



Flowers small, greenish, panicled, in ours dioecious; achenes few 



9. Thalictrum. 



1. P>£ONIA 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 the base of the 

 calyx. Style short or none. Follicles 2 to 5, thick and leathery, 

 several-seeded. (Paion, the physician of the gods.) 



1. P. Brownii Dougl. Peony. Somewhat fleshy plant about 

 8 in. high; leaves glaucous or pale, ternately or bi ternately divided, 

 chiefly radical, the lobes obovate to linear-spatulate; peduncles 1 or 2 

 in. long; petals plane, dull brownish-red, thick and leathery, scarcely 

 longer than the roundish concave sepals; disk of many thick fleshy 

 lobes; follicles mostly 5, broadly oblong, smooth, 1 to 1£ in. long. 



A rare herb within our limits: Santa Cruz, Mrs. A. E. Bush, 1880; 

 attributed to Marin Co. by Behr. More frequent southward: San 

 Antonio, Hartweg; Paso Robles, Cahunanga Pass; Temescal Range, 

 Brewer; San Bernardino. In the Sierras from at least Placer Co. 

 northward. May. 



2. ISOPYRUM L. 



Low glabrous slender perennials with ternately compound leaves, 

 2 to 3-lobed petiolulate leaflets and axillary or terminal white flowers. 

 Sepals 5, petal-like. Petals none. Stamens 10 to 40. Follicles 5 to 

 10, oblong or ovate, 2 to several-seeded. (Isopyron, the Greek name 

 of a species of Fumaria.) 



1. I. occidentale H. & A. Plant of delicate habit; stems from a 

 cluster«of slender fusiform roots, branching above, 6 to 10 in. high; 

 leaflets 5 to 6 lines long, with 2 or 3 broad rounded lobes, glaucous 

 beneath; flowers white. 6 to 9 lines in diameter; follicles 5 to 9, nar- 

 rowly oblong, obliquely pointed, transversely veined, 6 lines long; 

 seeds 8 to 9, wrinkled. 



A rare herb of shady places in the lower mountains. Sierra 

 Nevada: Forest Hill, Bolander; Mariposa, Congdon. Coast Ranges: 

 Weldon Canon, Vaca Mountains, Jepson. Mar-Apr. First collected 

 by Douglas in the Coast Ranges, the exact station unknown. 

 Greene's var. coloratum (Ervthea, i, 125), with rose-red flowers, is 

 from the Gabilan Mountains. 



3. AQUILEGIA L. 



Perennial herbs with ternately compound chiefly radical leaves, 

 petiolulate leaflets and showy solitary flowers. Sepals 5, plane, 

 colored like the petals. Petals 5, all alike and produced backward 

 into large hollow spurs projecting below the calyx. Stamens numer- 

 ous, some inner ones sterile with dilated filaments, appearing like 

 scarious scales. Pistils 5, becoming several-seeded follicles. (Deriva- 



