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Scleranthus. | CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 429 
4 minute concave bracts placed crosswise. Perianth 4-lobed. Stamen 1, 
inserted on an annular membrane near the mouth of the perianth. Frurting- 
perianth about ;4,in. long, hard, ovoid at the base; lobes erect. Utricle 
membranous, included—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 234; Benth. Fl. Austral. v 
(1870) 259: Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 575. Mniarum biflorum Forst. 
Char. Gen. (1786) 2, t. 1; Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 6; A. Roch. Fl. Nouv. 
Zel. (1832) 319; A. Cunn. Precur. (1839) n. 368; Raoul Choix (1846) 43. 
M. fasciculatum Raoul Ic. (not of R. Br.). Ditoca muscosa Banks ex 
Gaertn. Fruct. u (1791) 196, t. 126. 
Norte axp Sourn Isnanps, Stewart Isuanp: Abundant throughout, from the 
Three Kings Islands and the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 4000 ft. 
Family XL. RANUNCULACEAE. 
Annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs or woody climbers. Leaves 
all radical or alternate, seldom opposite (Clematis). Stipules wanting, or 
adnate to the petiole. Flowers regular or irregular, hermaphrodite or 
more rarely unisexual. Sepals 3 or more, usually 5, deciduous, often 
petaloid, imbricate (valvate in Clematis). Petals the same number as the 
sepals or more, hypogynous, free, imbrieate, sometimes wanting. Stamens 
hypogynous, usually very numerous; anthers adnate. Carpels generally 
many, free, 1-celled ; ovules one or several, attached to the ventral suture, 
anatropous. Fruit of numerous 1-seeded indehiscent achenes or many- 
seeded follicles, rarely a berry. Seeds small; embryo minute, at the base 
of copious albumen. — 
A large family, most abundant in temperate regions; rare within the tropics. 
Genera 30; species about 550. Most of the species are acrid, and many are poisonous, 
Aconite and Hellebore being familiar examples. All the New Zealand genera are widely 
distributed in temperate climates. 
Woody climbers with opposite compound leaves. Sepals petaloid, 
valvate. Petals wanting A 24, a 4 
Minute herbs with radica! linear leaves. Petals wanting. Carpels 
with a single pendulous ovule. Achenes in an elongated spike 2. Myosurus. 
Herbs. Sepals deciduous. Petals 3 to many. Carpels with a 
single erect ovule xs i HF Os me 
Herbs with radical sagittate leaves. Sepals petaloid. Petals 
wanting. Carpels with several ovules bes wt 
1, CLEMATIS. 
3. RANUNCULUS. 
4, CALTHA, 
1. CLEMATIS Linn. 1737 
Climbing undershrubs with slender flexuous branches, rarely dwarf and 
prostrate. Leaves opposite, usually ternately divided into 3 stalked leaflets, 
which are either entire or more often variously lobed or cut; petioles often 
twining. Hlowers in few- or many-flowered axillary panicles, dioecious in 
the New Zealand species. Sepals 4-8, petaloid, valvate in the bud. Petals 
wanting. Stamens many. Carpels numerous, each with one pendulous 
ovule. Hruit a head of sessile achenes, in all the New Zealand species 
produced into long feathery persistent styles. 
A genus of over 150 species, found in most temperate climates, rare in the tropics. 
The New Zealand species are all endemic, and all possess once- or twice-ternately 
divided leaves and dioecious flowers, the males without any carpels, the females usvally 
with a few imperfect stamens. Most of them vary greatly in the foliage, especially 
the large-leaved species. These in their normal state have 3-foliolate leaves with the 
