OF ORNAMENTAL PERENNIALS. 25 
GENUS X. 
ERANTHIS Sal. THE WINTER ACONITE. 
Lin. Syst. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. 
Gekehic Character. — Involucro situated under tho flower, and 
•left into many se;jnients. Flower ijcssilc. Caly.x of from tivo to 
eight coloured, petal-like sepals. Petals from six to eight, very short 
and tubular, with an unequally two-lipped mouth. Stamens very 
numerous. Ovaries five or six. Capsules on pedicels. Seeds globose, 
in a single row. 
Description, &c. — Tliis gcims contains only two species, but one of which is known in British gardens. 
The name of Eranthis signifies " flower of the eartli ; " because the plants are so dwarf as to seem to repose on 
the earth when in flower. The principal species was formerly included in the genus Helleborus. 
1.— ERANTHIS HYEMALIS Sal. THE WINTER ACONITE. 
Synonvme. — ITclIcboriis liyem;ili3 Lin.; H. monanthus Masnch; | Engravcno. — Bot. Mag. t. 3, and our^fl. S in Plate 7. 
Aconitum unifolium Bauh. ; Winter Wolf's-bauo Parkinson. \ Sprcific Character. — Sepals from six to ciglit, oblong. (G.Don.) 
Description, &c. — If anyone will gather a winter aconite, the flowers of which are just now (Feb. 1) 
beginning to expand in the gardens, it will, on examination, be found to have a broad, green involucre, consisting 
of three deeply-cut leaves growing together. On this leafy bed the flower reposes, its outer covering, or calyx, 
being composed of six oblong, bright yellow sepals, which are delicately marked with parallel lines. At the base 
of the sepals, and almost hidden in tho cup of the flower, lie six or seven little tubular petals, or nectaries, as 
they were called by Linnaeus, unequal at the mouth, and resembling cornets of paper, but of the same colour as 
the sepals. There are thirty or forty stamens, with two-celled, adnate anthers ; that is, with the filament or 
stalk firmly fixed to the back of the anther. In the centre of the stamens are five or six oblong carpels, each 
growing on a short foot-stalk, and each becoming narrower in the upper part, and ending in a gently-curved 
stigma. "When the carpels are ripe, each will be found to contain numerous round seeds, disposed in a single row. 
The leaves are deeply cut, and the plant has a creeping, underground, tuberous stem, or rhizoma, which sends up 
shoots from every bud. Thus, when it is wished to propagate the winter aconite, the suckers must be taken with a 
portion of the tuberous underground stem attached to each, as without that they will not grow. From the under- 
ground stem sending up shoots from every bud, several winter aconites generally appear above ground at a short 
distance from each other ; and the flower appears yellow as soon as it breaks through the ground, from the calyx or 
outer covering of the flower-bud being coloured. The same peculiarity of the creeping underground stem renders it 
difficult to clear a garden of this plant when it is wished to remove it, as the root must be traced through all its 
length, and every particle of it taken up, or fresh shoots will continue to spring up. The plant, however, is 
frequently killed entirely by frost or damp, as it is a native of mountainous places in Lombardy, the north of 
Italy, and Austria. It, therefore, requires an open, dry situation, exposed to the sun ; and though it flowers 
early in February, or even January, it will not bear much cold. In a warm situation its flowers are much 
larger and of a brighter colour than in a cold one ; and it looks remarkably well in pots or boxes as a window 
plant. The underground stem should be taken up, when it is to be divided or transplanted, in summer ; that is 
from June, as soon as the leaves have disappeared, to September, but not later, as towards the end of that month 
