94 
THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
Several foreign species of ranunculus grace our garden- 
beds during the summer season, their petals rich with the 
most glowing colours. They are not quite so much an 
object of culture to the florist as they were some years 
since ; but their great beauty will prevent their being 
altogether neglected by those who admire flow^ers. The 
exotic species are wild in countries both of the north and 
south of Europe, as well as in some parts of North Ame- 
rica. The Asiatic ranunculus (Ranunculus Asiaticus) is a 
well-known and handsome flower. All the plants of this 
tribe possess an acrimonious principle. They received 
their names from rana, a frog, because many species, 
like that animal, frequent watery places. 
The order termed by botanists Ranunculacem (of which 
the ranunculus is the type) comprehend some of our 
most brilliant garden plants. Several deadly poisons are 
among them, and very few can be pronounced wholly 
innocent in their properties. They generally prevail in 
cold moist climates, and, wdien found whthin the tropics, 
inhabit mountainous situations only. To this order be- 
longs the poisonous hellebore, one species of which, the 
black hellebore or Christmas rose (Helleborus mger), is 
one of our most beautiful winter garden ornaments. 
The ancients considered an extract of it as a wonderful 
remedy in mental disorders. It is a lovely flower, ri- 
valling in whiteness the snow which often lies around 
it, and the snowdrop wTich rears its head above it. It 
is called the black hellebore, to distinguish it from the 
two wild species wdiich grow- in our woods ; its root being 
covered with a thick black skin. The fragrant white 
clematis, as well as the darker coloured kinds, belong 
to this order, as do also the bright and elegantly formed 
anemone, the globe flower, the pseony spread wide’' 
(whose acrid root is useful in medicine), and a large 
number of flowers of the summer garden. It includes 
the hepatica, with its pretty blue or pink blossoms, and 
its three-lobed leaves, which, from their resemblance to 
the form of the liver, have given the plant its English 
name of liverwort, and induced our forefathers to fancy 
it must be a useful remedy in liver complaints. Then 
there is the pheasant’s eye, or Adonis, or (as Gerard 
calls it) the rose-a-rubie, which is termed by the French 
