DICOTYLEDONS WITH POLYPETALOUS FLOWERS. 
Natural Order 
RANUNCULACEAL Tab. i. 
Diagnosis. —Herbs with radical or alternate cauline simple leaves, or, in 
Clematis, woody climbers with opposite usually compound leaves. Stamens 
hypogynous, indefinite. Pistil apocarpous. Albumen copious. 
Distribution. —Generally diffused through the Temperate and Arctic zones, both of the Old and 
New World ; rare in hot countries, excepting at high elevations. 
Number of British Genera, io; Species, 28—30. 
A large Natural Order, including genera widely different at first sight, owing to considerable 
diversity in habit and in the envelopes of the flower. Five principal types of structure are distinguished 
as Tribes, viz. :— 
1. Clematide^E. Sepals valvate. Fruit a head of achenes. (Leaves opposite). — Example, Traveller’s 
Joy ( Clematis Vitalba). 
2. Anemones. Sepals imbricate. Ovule solitary, pendulous. Fruit a head of achenes.— Example, Wood 
Anemone {Anemone nemorosa). 
3. RANUNCULEZE. Sepals imbricate. Ovule solitary, ascending. Fruit a head of achenes. — Example, 
Buttercup {Ranunculus bulbosus). 
