4 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
coffee: sometimes it is very abundant, sometimes there is very little of it, and sometimes none at all. Now, 
in the seeds of all the Ranunculacem, the embryo is very small, and it is placed at the point of the seed with 
a mass of horny albumen above it. 
These particulars require, however, such a minute examination of the plants as not to be generally useful ; 
and a more popular way of judging is to notice the leaves, which in most of the Ranunculacem are very much 
cut; though this is by no means a certain criterion, for some of the plants have entire leaves, as in the two 
Spear-worts, and the Grass-leaved Crow-foot. Nearly all the species, however, have the foot-stalks of their 
leaves sheathing the stem ; so that this is a decided characteristic. Another characteristic is the acrid, watery 
juice which all the plants belonging to this order give out when bruised, and which clearly distinguishes them 
from the poppy tribe, which some of them greatly resemble, but all of which have a milky juice. Nearly all the 
British species of Ranunculaceas are herbaceous plants—the only shrub being the common Clematis or 
Traveller’s Joy ; and nearly all the species prefer a moist, marshy soil. Botanists divide the Ranunculaceas into 
the genuine and the spurious, of which they make two sections. 
Sect. I. Genuine Ranunculacece. 
GENUS I. 
THE CLEMATIS, OR VIRGINS’ BOWER. (Clematis, Lin.) 
Lyn. Syst. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —InVolucrum none, or shaped like a calyx j or shorter than the sepals. Akenia numerous, terminating in a 
immediately beneath the flower. Sepals 4-8, coloured. Petals none, | bearded tail. Roots perennial. Leaves exactly opposite. (Dec.) 
Description, &c. —It has been already observed that the flowers of the Crow-foot family are very irregular 
in their forms. Some of them, like the common Crow-foot, have a green calyx, and a bright coloured corolla; 
others, as the Larkspur and the Columbine, have the calyx and corolla of the same colour, and so mixed together 
as to be scarcely distinguishable; and others liave no corolla—what botanists call a coloured calyx supplying its 
place. Of this last kind is the Clematis, as it has only a coloured calyx inclosing its stamens, without any 
petals. Notwithstanding the number of species of this genus which adorn our gardens, there is only one kind 
that is a native of Britain, and that is known by tbe somewhat poetical name of the Traveller’s Joy. It is 
generally called a shrub, but none of the species of Clematis are true sbrubs ; they are only what is called 
suffruticose ; that is, the young wood is herbaceous, though the stems of the old wood are woody, particularly 
near the ground. According to the Linnman system, the Clematis is included in the class Polyandria, that word 
signifying numerous stamens, and the order Polygynia, which signifies having many carpels. The student will 
thus perceive that all the Crow-foot tribe are included in the Linnsean class Polyandria, since they have all many 
stamens ; but they are arranged in different orders according to the number of their carpels. 
1.— THE TRAVELLER’S JOY. (Clematis vitalba, Lin.') 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 612, 2nd edit., t. 776; and our Jig. 1, oval, heart-shaped, lobed, and slightly cut; petioles climbing, perma- 
in PL 1. nent; panicles forked, scarcely longer than the leaves. (Smith.) 
SrEciFic Character. —Stem climbing ; leaves pinnate; leaflets ' 
Description, &c.—The flowers of the Traveller’s Joy are small, and not remarkable for their beauty ; but 
there is a graceful lightness about them that gives them a very elegant appearance. The stems are more woody 
than those of any other kind of Clematis, and they often grow to the height of twenty feet ; pushing their way 
