THE 
FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
August 1, 1841. 
ON THE PROPAGATION AND CULTURE OF RANUNCULI. 
BY MR. JOSEPH TYSO, WALLINGFORD, BERKS. 
(with portraits.) 
The specimens figured are Pauline , white, edged with lilac ; 
and Delectus ,— named Selectus , by a blunder of the engraver,— 
yellow, edged with orange-red. 
The Ranunculece are among the most generally distributed, 
and in a state of nature, the most admired of common and hardy 
flowers. Who, in infant life, has not eagerly gathered those but¬ 
tercups, which are spread as an embroidery of gold over the 
emerald green of our summer meadows, and the glossy hue of 
which has, perhaps, not a rival among our wild flowers ? In 
the natural system, they belong to the first order of plants, which 
contains also the clematis, the anemone, and several other tribes. 
There is a family likeness in the whole order ; and they have this 
also in common, that there is something acrid about them, which 
protects them from grazing animals and from many insects. In 
the Linnsean system they either belong to Polyandria or Pentan- 
dria ; and the tribe of which we now speak are polygyneous. 
Though named from Rana , a frog, they are not all found in moist 
situations; for even in Britain they inhabit from the marshy pool 
to a considerable height in the dry mountain. 
The garden species, of which there are so many, and such beau¬ 
tiful varieties, is a native of the Levant, but has been cultivated 
in Britain for about two hundred and fifty years. As the whole 
species are hardy plants,' and most of them have perennial roots, 
there is no difficulty in their culture, which is faithfully described 
in the following part of this paper by one of the most skilful and 
successful growers.— Ed. 
VOL. II. NO. VIII. z 
