THE BUTTERCUP FAMILY 
[ORDER I. RANUNCULACEAE] 
HE essential characteristics of the Buttercup Family lie in the numerous stamens which are 
situated below the carpels, and in the numerous carpels, which are not united, and which 
form a cluster or head of small dry fruits (achenes or follicles). These two essentials serve to 
define the Buttercup both from the Rock-Rose and the Rose Families. 
We have, of course, a few exceptions, but they are very few. In the Mousetail (Myosurus) 
there are but few stamens ; in some of the Larkspurs (Delphinia) there is only one carpel, so 
that the fruit (a follicle) is solitary ; and in the Baneberry (Actsea) there is also only one carpel, 
which develops into a many-seeded berry. 
The order is a large one, and its members are found all over the globe, but principally 
in temperate climates. The flowers are usually conspicuous, many being very beautiful, and 
a great many of the different species are to be found in our gardens, among which the 
Clematis, Hepatica, Anemone, Pheasant’s Eye (Adonis), Ranunculus, Bachelor’s Button, and 
Golden Ball (Trollius), Christmas Rose (Helleborus), Winter Aconite (Eranthis), Columbine 
(Aquilegia), Larkspur (Delphinium), Monkshood (Aconitum), Paeony (Paeonia), and Love-in- 
a-mist (Nigella) are common everywhere. 
Many of the species have a watery and acrid juice, and some are very poisonous ; the 
Celery-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus) and Upright Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) 
have a slightly poisonous juice, but the Monkshood (Aconitum) and all the Hellebores 
(Helleborus) abound in virulent poison, and were considered of great medicinal value. Some 
species of the Monkshood (Aconitum) were known to the ancients, and they are believed to 
have employed them as poisons. 
The Magnolias and Tulip Trees of our garden belong to an order very near akin to the 
Buttercup. The Magnolias are glorious evergreen trees, native to America, and differ from 
the Buttercup tribe in having two stipules protecting their leaf-buds, and in the numerous 
carpels uniting into a cone-like fruit, from which the seeds often hang down in long cords. 
B 
