THE 
LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
OP 
ORNAMENTAL PEHENNIALS. 
CHAPTER I. 
RANUNCULACEiE Dec. 
Essential Character. — Sepals U8uall) five, but sometimes varying 
from three to six. Petals frequently wanting, or confounded with the 
eepals ; when present, frequently unequal, or assuming unusual shapes. 
Stamens numerous, growing from beneath tlie pistih Carpels nume- 
rous, growing close together on an elevated receptacle or torus. Fruit 
generally either a caryopsis, or follicular. Leaves alternate or oppo- 
site, generally much laciniated, with the petiole dilated so as to form a 
kind of slieath round the stem. 
Description, &c. — The plants comprised in this order, vary exceedingly in the form of their flowers ; and 
in some of them the petals and sepals assume even grotesque shapes, as though Nature, tired of the common- 
place routine of their ordinary forms, had tried how many new figures they might be compelled to assume. 
Amid all this irregularity, there is, however, always a certain degree of resemblance, which enables the 
experienced eye of a botanist to recognise the plants belonging to this order. They have all numerous stamens, 
which have always two-celled anthers, with the filament firmly affixed to their back ; and the filaments, sepals, 
and petals (when there are any), all grow out of the receptacle from beneath the carpels. The carpels themselves 
are generally numerous, and though growing close together, are either not attached at all to each other, or so 
slightly, as to be easily separated with a pin. In many of the genera each carpel contains only one seed, which 
it does not open to discharge, so that what is commonly called the seed is, in fact, the dry carpel, with the seed 
enclosed. A seed and carpel of this kind form what is called a caryopsis ; and it has been observed that seeds of 
this description are longer in the ground before they germinate than others, no doubt because the germ of the 
young plant has two coverings to break through, instead of one. Many of the caryopsides are furnished with 
feathery tails, as in the Clematis and Pulsatilla, the use of which is to distribute the seeds. The juice of all the 
Ranunculacete, when the plants are bruised or broken, is watery and very acrid ; and they are all more or less 
poisonous. The leaves are generally more or less cut, and the petioles or footstalks are generally dilated at the 
base so as to enfold the stem. This is, indeed, so frequently the case, that when a plant is found to have this 
peculiarity, combined with numerous stamens growing round and from beneath a little heap of carpels in the 
centre of the flower, the student in botany may be certain that the plant belongs to the Ranunculaceae. There 
are, however, many plants belonging to the order which have neitlier cut leaves nor dilated petioles. The order 
takes its name from the genus Ranunculus. 
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