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Show The Hiflory of P L A N T S. nunculus. 20. The great-flowered, rock Ranunculus. 2 I. The purple-flowered , fmallage-leaved Ranunculus. 22. The pucedanum-leaved, water Ranunculus. 2 3• The fennel-leaved, hellebore-rooted Ranunculns. 24. The great-flowered, jointedfialked, fennel-leaved Ranunculus. 2 5· The betony-leaved Ranunculus. z6. 'The bulbous, grafiy-leaved Ranunculus. 27 .. The fingle-flowered, graffy-leaved Ranunculus. 2 8. The dwarf, gralfy-leaved, white-flowered Ranunculus. 29. The plantain-leaved Ranunculus. From the Afiatic and fome other fpecies of this genus, particularly thofe from the tenth to the fomteenth of this laft divifion, culture has raifed all that beauti ful variety of Ranunculus's of our gardens, which are by too many authors called difii nCl: fpecie s. IS 0 P Y RUM. T HERE is no calyx : the corolla confifis of five equal, oval, patent, deciduous petals : the neetaria are five; they are equal, tubulated, and very {hort; their openings are oblique, fimple, and fituated within the corolla : the fiamina are numerous, capillary filaments, fhorter than the corolla: the anthercc are fimple; the germina are oval; the fiyles are fimple, and of the length of the germina : the fiigmata are obtufe, and of the length of the fiamina : the fruit is compofed of two crooked, lunated pods, containing each only one cell, and in it numerous feeds. Thefe charaCters fufficiently diflinguiili the Ifopyrum from all the reil of this ch&. H E L L E B 0 R U S. T HERE is no calyx: the corolla is compofed of five, or more, large, hollowed, roundifh petals: the nechria are five~ they are very fhort, and placed circularly ~ they are each compofed of a fingle leaf, tubulated, with a ringent mouth, opening inwards, and they are narrowefi below : the fiamina are numerous, fubulated filaments: the anther::e are compreifed, narrowel1: below, and ereCt: the germina are corniculated, and terminate in fubulated fiyles: the fiigmata are thick; the fruit is compofed of feveral compreffed, bicarinated capfules; the inferior carina {borter, the upper convex, and opening : the feeds are numerous, round, and affixed to a future. The effential charaCter of this genus is in the neCtarium ; the refi of the parts of fruCtification vary. This genus comprehends the Trollius and Aconitum of Rivinus, and the Helleborafter of authors. In the Trollius the petals are numerous and connivent the ncc:taria unilabiated. In the Aconitum the petals are fix, and deciduous, and the flower fiands on a leaf. In the Helleboral1:er the petals are five, and permanent; the piflils from ·three to five. Helleborus fcapo bijloro fubnudo, Joliis pedatis. The two-flowered Helleborus, with pedated leaves. ~ ttt e bhlclt ~cUebo?t. The root is black, and compofed of a multitude of thick fibres, arifing from a fmall head. The leaves ftand on pedicles of four or five inches lonrr · they arc large and divid7d to th~ bafe, ufually into nine fegments. The flowers g~o~ on ftalks of ~tbout four mches high; they are large and white. It is a native of Germany. C. Bauhine calls it, Helleborus niger flore rofeo; others, Helleborus niger verus. It's root is the black Hellebore of the ihops, a purge and a deobfhuent, good in fuppreffions of the menfes. '.The other fpecies are, I. The great-flowered, wild, black Hellebore. 2. The great, w1ld Hellebore. 3· The great-leaved Hellebore. 4· The narrow-leaved Hellebore. 5· The great-flowered, autumnal Hellebore. 6. The trifoliate Hellebore. 7· The yellow, dwarf Hellebore, or winter Aconite. 8. The globofe-flowered Hellebore, called globofe Ranunculus. 9· The fmaller-flowered, globofe Hellebore. CALTHA. The Hijlory if P L A .N T S. 493 C · A L ·.T H ·A. , . T H. ERE is no calyx: the. corolla confifis of five large, oval, plane, patent, deciduous petals: the ftamma are numerous, capillary filaments, lhorter than the coro!la: the anther::e are compreffed, obtufe, and er~¢!: the germin<l. are from five to ten m number, and are o?long, compreff~d, and ereCt': there · are no ftyles; the fiigmat~ are fimpl~: thde frmt confib1~s ?f a~ many capfules as there were germina; they are ort, acummate , ~atent, Icarmateu, a.nd open at the upper future : the feeds are numerous and roundilh, and adhere to the upper future. Of this genus there is but one fpecies. CALTHA. T~e root i~ fibrous; the fialk is rouod, thick, and a foot high. The leaves are two mches broad, crenated at the edges~ and roundifh. The flowers ftand at the tops ~f the bran~hes, and are very large and yellow. It 1~ common m our meadows. C. Bauhine calls it, ~alt~a palufhis. Clafi the Fourteenth. 1 'D I D Y N A M' I A. P /ants which have in every Jlo~er two ejfeEJive .ftamina and two ujelefi I • o_nes. The Didynamia comprehends the labiated and peifonated flowered Plants of Authors. J ) • T ~ E calyx is an ereCt, tabulated perianthium, formed of a fingle le~f, divided mto five fegrnents, often unequal ones, and permanent :. the ' corolla is monopetalous and erett ~ the bafe i~ tub?lated; it conta~ns a honey-juice, and performs the office of a ne~a~IUm .: the hmb IS commonly nngent; the upper lip is ftrait; the lower patent, divided mto three fegments; the middle one the larger. The ftamina are four fubulated filaments, inferted int.o the tube of the corolla, and · r olined towards ~t's back,; two ~f them intermediate and fhort, all running paralle\, a,nd rarely exceedmg the corolla ~n length : the anther~ are ufually hid under the upper lip of the corolla, an~ conmvent. The germen IS ufually placed above the receptacle : the fiyle is fingle, fihform, an.d b~nt in the fame manner as the fiamina; it is ufually placed between them, an~ IS a httle longer than they are, and it's apex is bent : the tl:igma is ufuall~ emargi.nated. The fruit, if there be any, is ufually bilocular : the feeds, if there IS no frutt, are four, and are lodged in the bottom of the cpp; if tnete be a fruit, they are more numerous, and are affixed to a receptacle fituated in it's.,centet. Thefe are the charaCters common to all the genera of this clafs. After thus deliyering them at large here, we ihall not repeat them at the h~ad of every genus, but gtve only, as the generical charaCter, the particulars in which each genus differs from all the others; only in the firll, the Teucrium, we lhall deliver them at large, as a fpecimen of their general di{l:ribution. ) The elfential charaCter of the clafs is, that there are four fiamina, two of which are lhorter than the others, and are placed together, and connivent; and that the ftyle is fingle, and fiands within an irregular corolla. The genera of this clafs are very numerous; they may commodioufly be divided ihto two feries, according to their wanting, or having, a pel'icarpium, 1,mder the titles of Gymnofpermia. an~ Angiofpermia; and thefe, as they'~have bilabia~ed dr quinqtlit1d cups, or as thetr fi1gmata are fimple or double, and thetr corolla perfonated, patulous, or polypetalous, may be again arranged into feveral fubdivifions. |