BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
CHAPTER I. 
THE CROW-FOOT FAMILY. (Ranunculaceai, Juss.) 
Character of the Order _Sepals from 3-6, sometimes con¬ 
founded -with the petals. Petals 5-15, hypogynous, distinct, occasion¬ 
ally deformed, and sometimes wanting. Stamens indefinite,hypogynous, 
anthers usually turned outwards. Carpels numerous, seated on a 
torus, one-celled or partially united into a single many-cellcd pistil ; 
one or more seeded. Fruit either consisting of dry akenia, or berries 
with one or more seeds, or follicles, or capsules. Seeds albuminous. 
Embryo minute. Albumen corneous. Herbs, or very rarely shrubs. 
Leaves alternate or opposite, generally divided, with the petiole dilated 
and forming a sheath half clasping the stem. Inflorescence variable. 
—( Lindley .) 
Description, &c.— The Crow-foot family is now generally placed by botanists at the commencement of the 
Natural System, but it is rather unfortunate that it is so, as it is one of the most difficult orders that a student 
can begin with. The plants belonging to most of the other Natural families may be recognised by the 
resemblance which their flowers bear to each other ; but the flowers of the Crow-foot family are so variable as 
to form no clue to their relationship. What, for instance, can be more dissimilar than the flowers of the common 
Crow-foot and those of the Larkspur; and who can find any resemblance between the Columbine and the Peony 
or the Marsh Marigold ? Why then, the student may naturally ask, are all these plants classed together ? The 
resemblance lies principally in the construction of the flowers and the seed vessels, which it requires some 
knowledge of Botany to distinguish in the plants while in flower ; though when the flowers have fallen, the 
resemblance in the seed-vessels becomes more apparent. In all the Ranunculaceae the seed-vessels consist of a 
number of carpels, placed very close to each other, and sometimes growing together, on a fleshy substance called 
a torus, which is attached to the end of the flower-stalk. These seed-vessels are very numerous in the common 
Crow-foot and the Pheasant’s Eye, in which plants they contain only one seed each ; but in the Larkspur and 
Columbine they are fewer in number, and larger, each containing several seeds ; and in the Clematis and Pasque 
flower they are furnished with long feathery tails. The construction, however, is the same in all. All the 
plants belonging to the order have also numerous stamens, which grow from lelow the carpels, being inserted in 
the torus. The petals of the flower are also inserted in the torus, and are so distinct from the stamens, that 
children sometimes amuse themselves by pulling off the bright yellow petals of the butter-cup, and then 
showing the flowers (which, in their denuded state, seem all stamens) to their companions to guess what they 
can be. The seeds of the Ranunculacem present another mark of distinction. All perfect seeds contain an 
embryo, which is the germ of a new plant; and this generally occupies only a portion of the seed, the rest being 
filled up with a substance called the albumen, which serves for the nourishment of the young plant till its roots 
and leaves are developed, as the yolk and white of the egg serve to nourish the chicken they enclose. The 
albumen differs very much in different seeds, sometimes it is floury, as in wheat; and at others horny, as in 
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