16 
RANUNCULUS. 
or 9 stove species, about 20 greenhouse species, | Seventeen species of it grow wild in Britain; 
nearly 50 hardy ligneous species, and about 600 
hardy herbaceous species; and it is divided into 
five tribes,—the Ranunculee, the Anemonee, the 
Helleborez, the Clematidew, and the Pzeoniacee, 
comprising respectively four, six, eleven, three, 
and five genera. It naturally ranges over by far 
the greater part of the world; but is particularly 
abundant throughout most of Europe, and in 
some of the temperate parts of Asia. Its genera 
differ very widely from one another in external 
| appearance, and in thany of the most obvious 
botanical characters, yet are all at one in the 
essential characters of their fructification. ‘The 
| majority are objects of great interest to gardeners 
| and florists; and many rank among the most 
brilliant and showy and beautiful flowering plants 
in the world; and a large number occur on the 
open border of every tolerably good flower-gar- 
den, or sometimes on even the most common 
cottage parterres. All, however, are as remark- 
able for their dangerous acridity as for their 
_ pleasing beauteousness; and not a few are very 
powerfully caustic and venomous. The crowfoots 
of our European pastures and the Anemone tri- 
lobata and triternata of those of South America, 
are well known poisons of cattle. The foliage of 
the acrid crowfoot is used by the inhabitants of 
Iceland for making blistering plasters; and that 
of some species of Clematis is supposed to afford 
the means employed by beggars of producing 
_ artificial ulcers. Some of the aconites, the crow- 
_ foots, and the hellebores figure in the pharmaco- 
| poeias as very powerful medicines; and several 
of them are known also in the arts, either fnr- 
tively or otherwise, as mightily active or mis- 
chievous agents. A species of nigella, too, is 
celebrated in ancient housewifery for its aro- 
matic seeds, which were used in the same way 
as pepper now is; and a species of larkspur is 
said to be an ingredient in certain French cos- 
_ metics which act destructively on the surface of 
the skin. Yet the peculiar active principle of 
the Ranunculacee is of so very singular a nature 
as to be destructible only or at least chiefly by 
air and water; it is neither acidous nor alka- 
line ; it acquires increase of power from mixa- 
tion with sugar, honey, wine, alcohol, or acids ; 
and it is so very volatile, or passes so very facilely 
into the atmosphere or into water, that, in most 
instances, simple drying in the air or simple in- 
fusing in water is sufficient to expel it. The 
principal medicinal properties of the officinal 
Ranunculaceze are diuretic, sedative, emmena- 
gogue, and violently cathartic or drastic. 
The genus ranunculus is very broadly distin- 
guished by the physical characteristics of the 
order, both floral and chemical. The genera 
which it represents as the type of the tribe Ra- 
nunculez are ranunculus, myosurus, ficaria, and 
ceratocephalus. Its calyx is five-leaved; its 
corolla is five-petalled, with a melliferous pore 
within the claws; and its seeds are naked. 
upwards of 50 species have been introduced from 
other countries; and about 100 other species are 
known. Most of its species naturally inhabit 
moist places; and, in fantastic allusion to this 
circumstance, it obtained the name of ranuncu- 
lus, from a Latin word signifying a frog. One 
very large subgenus of it consists principally of 
erect terrestrial perennials, and has fibrous roots, 
white or yellow flowers, and smooth, ovate, round- 
ish carpels, disposed into a round head; another 
and much smaller subgenus, consists of terres- 
trial perennials, and has grumose roots, generally 
though not universally yellow flowers, and smooth 
carpels, disposed into a close spike ; a third and 
still smaller subgenus consists of annuals, and 
has yellow flowers, and rough, tuberculous, or 
prickly carpels; a fourth and yet smaller sub- 
genus consists of aquatic perennials, and has 
white petals, a yellow claw marked with a nec- — 
tariferous hollow, and a transversely striated 
pericarp; and a fifth and smallest subgenus con- 
sists of terrestrial perennials, and has grumose 
roots, yellow flowers, and smooth subglobose car- 
pels. All the species in Britain are herbaceous ; 
all, except two or three, are hardy; most have 
a height of between 4 and 15 inches; very many 
deserve a place on the flower-border ; some are | 
among the most common of our wild flowers ; 
and the majority thrive in any common soil, and | 
are readily propagated by radical division. The 
indigenous species are noticed in the article 
Crowroort; and only one of the exotic species, 
incomparably the most brilliant, and every way | 
worthy to concenterate in itself the main floral | 
interest of the whole genus, must form the sub- | 
ject of the sequel of the present article. 
The Asiatic or common garden ranunculus, 72. 
astaticus, was introduced to Britain from the 
Levant toward the close of the 16th century. It 
is often called par excellence the ranunculus, as 
if there were no other; and it comprises a count- 
less number of varieties and subvarieties, with 
double and semi-double flowers, of every hue 
from a creamy white to the deepest crimson, 
nearly approaching to black, and, in many in- 
stances, so beautifully variegated with streaks 
and dots and different markings as to rival the 
most superb picotees and carnations. Its root 
is grumose; its stem or stems are commonly 
about 9 inches high; and its leaves are trifoliate 
and twice trifoliate, with cut and trifid lobes. | 
Two typal or fundamental forms of its multi- 
tudes of varieties occur,—the blood-coloured, #. 
a. sanguineus, with scarlet flowers, and originally 
from Syria,—and the fine-lobed, R. a. tenuilobus, | 
with white flowers, and originally from Greece; | 
but the varieties or subvarieties themselves can- 
not easily be classified, and almost defy enumera- 
tion. Any variety, if well treated, is supposed 
to be capable of lasting during from 30 to 40 
years; but few or none, no matter how 
well | 
treated, live vigorously or even live at all be- 
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