5 
Order I. RANUNCULACE.E. The Crow-Foot Tribe. 
Ranunculi, Juss. Gen. (1789.) — RANUNCULACEiE, DC. Syst. 1. 127. (1818) ; Prodr. 1. 2. 
(1824) ; Lindl. Synops. p. 7. (1829) ; Bartling. Ord. 253. (1830). 
Essential Character. — Sepals 3-6, hypogynous, deciduous, generally imbricate in 
aestivation, occasionally valvate or duplicate. Petals 3-15, hypogynous, in one or more 
rows, distinct, sometimes deformed. Stamens definite or indefinite in number, hypogynous ; 
anthers adnate. Carpels numerous, seated on a torus, 1 -celled or united into a single many- 
celled pistil ; ovary one or more seeded, the ovules adhering to the inner edge ; style one to 
each ovary, short, simple. Fruit either consisting of dry akenia, or baccate with one or 
more seeds, or follicular with one or two valves. Seeds albuminous ; when solitary, either 
erect or pendulous. Embryo minute. Albumen corneous. — Herbs, or very rarely shrubs. 
Leaves alternate or opposite, generally much divided, with the petiole dilated and forming a 
sheath half clasping the stem. Stipules occasionally present. Hairs, if any, simple. In- 
florescence variable. 
Anomalies. — In Garidella and Nigella, the carpels cohere more or less. In Thalictrum, 
some species of Clematis, and some other genera, there are no petals. Pseonia has a per- 
sistent calyx. Some species of Casalea have a definite number of stamens. 
Affinities. This order has a strong affinity with some others which are 
v/idely apart from each other. Its most immediate resemblance is with 
Dilleniacese, Magnoliaceee, and their allies, to which it approaches in the 
position, number, and structure of its parts of fructification generally, differing 
however in an abundance of particulars ; as from Dilleniacese, in the want of 
aril, deciduous calyx, and whole habit; from Magnoliaceae, in the want of 
stipules, and sensible qualities ; from Papaveraceae and Nymphaeaceae, in the 
distinct, not cefncrete, carpels ; watery, not milky, fluids ; acrid, not narcotic, 
properties. More distant analogy may be traced with Rosaceae, with which 
Ranunculaceae agree in their numerous carpels, the number of their floral divi- 
sions and indefinite stamens ; but differ in those stamens being hypogynous 
instead of perigynous, in the presence of large albumen surrounding a minute 
embryo, want of stipules and acrid properties. With Umbelliferae they accord 
in the last particular, and also in their sheathing leaves, habit, and abundant 
albumen, with a minute embryo ; but those plants differ in their calyx being 
concrete with the ovary, and in their stamens being invariably definite. 
Another analogy has been indicated by botanists between this order and 
Alismaceae, with which it agrees in its numerous carpels, in habit, and some- 
times in the ternary structure of the flowers ; but that order is monocotyledo- 
nous. Many of the genera are destitute of petals, but in such cases the calyx 
is so highly developed, that it evidently performs the combined functions of 
itself and the corolla. A great peculiarity of Ranunculaceae consists in the 
strong tendency exhibited by many of the genera to produce their sepals, petals, 
and stamens, in a state different from that of other plants ; as, for example, in 
Delphinium, Aquilegia, and Aconitum, in which the petals are furnished with 
a spur, and in Ranunculus itself, which has a nectariferous gland at the base of 
the petals. An instance is described of the polypetalous regular corolla of 
Clematis viticeUa being changed into a monopetalous irregular one, like that of 
Labiatae. Nov. Act. Acad. N. C. 14. p. 642. t. 37. 
The Clematideous section is remarkable for its apetalous flowers and 
opposite leaves. In these plants, however, the calyx is developed as much as 
a corolla usually is. 
Geography. The largest proportion of this order is found in Europe, 
which contains more than l-5th of the whole ; North America possesses about 
l-7th, India l-25th, South America l-17th; very few are found in Africa, 
except upon the shores of the Mediterranean ; eighteen species have, accord^ 
