RANUNCULA CEAE 
553 
alt. leaves, and then emits long... often twining twigs, also with alt. 
leaves whose petiole is jointed some way from the base. After the 
leaf-fall the lower part forms a thorn. The flowering twigs have opp. 
leaves.” (Brandis.) Fruit winged. 
Radiola (Dill.) Roth. Linaceae. i sp. Eur. (incl. Brit.), N. Afr., temp. 
As., R. linoides Roth (all-seed). Infl. a dichasial cyme. 
Rafflesia R. Br. Rafflesiaceae. 5 sp. Java, Sumatra, &c. ; parasitic on 
Vitis roots. R. Arnoldi R. Br. has a colossal flr. a yard across and 
weighing 15 lbs. It smells like putrid meat, and is visited and polli- 
nated by carrion flies (p. 92). 
RaSiesiaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Aristolochialcs). 7 gen. with 
22 sp. trop. An extremely interesting order of parasitic herbs, whose 
vegetative organs are reduced to what is practically a ?nycelium like 
that of a true Fungus, viz. a network of fine cellular threads ramifying 
in the tissues of the host (p. 176). The firs, appear above ground, 
developing as adventitious shoots upon the mycelium. They are uni- 
sexual, and sometimes of enormous size. Chief genera : Rafflesia, 
Brugmansia, Pilostyles, Cytinus. Benth. -Hooker term the order 
Cytinaceae, and include in it the Hydnoraceae, placing the whole 
in Multiovulatae Terrestres, Warming places it in Hysterophyta. 
Rafnia Thunb. Leguminosae (in. 3). 22 sp. S. Afr. 
Ramondia Rich. Gesneriaceae (1). 4 sp. endemic on Mts. of S. Eur. 
(1 Pyrenees, 1 Olympus, 2 Servia; see p. 149). Fir. almost regular 
with 5 sta. and rotate corolla. 
Ranales. The 15th cohort (Engler) of Archichlamydeae (p. 127). 
The first cohort (Benth. -Hooker) of Polypetalae (p. 133). 
Randia Houst. ex Linn. Rubiaceae (1. 8). roo sp. trop. The two 
leaves at a node are often unequal (p. 47) and one frequently aborts 
early. Thorns often occur. In R. dumetorum Lam. the thorn arises 
in the axil of a leaf above the ordinary bud, and is carried up by 
intercalary growth. 
Ranunculaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Ranales). 27 gen. with 700 
sp., chiefly N. temp, and well represented in Brit. Most are herba- 
ceous perennials with rhizomes, usually of condensed (root-stock) 
form, and always of sympodial construction. Each year’s shoot ends 
in an infl. and a bud is formed in the axil of one of the leaves at the 
base, which forms the next year’s growth. In most sp. the primary 
root soon dies away, and adventitious roots are formed from the stem ; 
often (e.g. Aconitum, Ranunculus sp.) these swell up into tubers 
holding reserve materials. The leaves are usually alt., with sheath- 
ing bases and often very much divided. The chief exceptions to the 
above general statements, and special cases of interest, are described 
under the genera, e.g. Helleborus, Eranthis, Clematis, Ranunculus. 
The infl. is typically determinate; in Anemone sp., Eranthis, &c., 
a single terminal flr. is produced. More often a cymose branching 
occurs, the buds in the axils of the leaves below the terminal flr. 
