The flowers of the Peony bear considerable resemblance to those of the buttercup, but every part is on an enlarged scale; and there are some important differences—one of which is, that the Peony retains its calyx till the seeds are ripe, while in all the kinds of Ranunculus the calyx drops with the corolla. The carpels of the Peony are also many-seeded, while those of the Ranunculus contain only one seed in each. In the male Peony (P. corallina) there are five petals and five sepals, (see a in fig. 6,) with numerous stamens, forming a ring round four large woolly carpels in the centre of the flower. The stamens (c) are adnate, like those of the Ranunculus; and the carpels (b) are each terminated by a thick, fleshy, hooked stigma. These carpels open naturally on the side when ripe, to discharge their seeds. The herbaceous Peonies with double flowers, now so common in our gardens, have generally only two carpels, each containing about twenty seeds, arranged in two rows; and the Chinese tree Peony (P. Moutan) has from five to ten carpels, with only a few seeds in each. This last species is distinguished by the receptacle being drawn out into a thin membrane-like substance, which rises between the carpels like the remains of withered leaves, and partially covers them.
THE GENUS ANEMONE.
I have already mentioned (p. [10]) that some of the genera included in the order Ranunculaceæ have only a coloured calyx and no corolla; and the Anemone is an example of this peculiarity of construction. The pasque-flower (Anemone pulsatilla) is divided into six dark purple sepals, which are covered on the outside with long silky hairs. The leaves are so much cut as almost to resemble those of parsley; and at a short distance below the flowers there are three small floral leaves, or bracts, which grow round the stem, and form what is called an involucre. The carpels are small, oblong bodies, pressed close together, and each is furnished with a long, feathery point, called an awn. The carpels, though lying so close together, are perfectly distinct, and part readily at the slightest touch; and each contains only one seed.
It will be seen from this hasty sketch, that the principal point of resemblance between the genera Anemone and Ranunculus, in a botanical point of view, lies in the carpels, which are close together, and are yet so distinct as to part at the slightest touch. There is, however, a general resemblance in some of the flowers, from their five sepals, and numerous stamens, that renders it difficult for a beginner to distinguish an Anemone from a Ranunculus. In many of the British species, also, the carpels are not awned, but slightly curved, very like those of a buttercup. I remember being once very much puzzled with a beautiful little bright yellow flower, that I found in a wood. At first I thought it was a Ranunculus, but the petals were pointed and not roundish; and it could not be a Ficaria, because it had only five petals. At last I looked to see what kind of calyx it had, and found none, that is, no green calyx; and then, observing the involucre of three leaves growing in a whorl round the stem, at some distance below the flower, I knew it was an Anemone; and on comparing it with the plates in Sowerby’s English Botany, on my return home, I ascertained that it was Anemone ranunculoides.
My readers will therefore observe that Anemones may be always known by their involucre, and by their having only one covering (a showy, coloured calyx) to the flower. The number of sepals in this calyx varies in the different species. The pasque-flower has six; the white wood Anemone generally five; and the Blue Mountain Anemone from twelve to twenty. The involucre also sometimes grows a long way from the flower, as in this last-mentioned species; and sometimes so close to it, as in the Garland, or Poppy Anemone (A. coronaria), as to look almost like a green calyx to the flower. The awns, or feathery tails, are also not found attached to the carpels of all the species; and this distinction is considered so important, that some botanists make those plants which have awned carpels into a separate genus, which they call Pulsatilla, and of which the pasque-flower is considered the type. This genus, however, has not, I believe, been generally adopted.
I have now only a few words to say on florists’ Anemones, the tuberous roots of which most of my readers must have seen in the seed-shops. Most of these are varieties of the Garland Anemone, already mentioned as having its involucre close to the flower. The sepals of this species are roundish, six in number, and when the flower is in a single state, there are a great number of stamens, bearing dark purple anthers in the centre of the flower. When the flower becomes double, the sepals, which retain their form and number, only becoming somewhat more spread out and flattened, are called by florists the guard-leaves; and the stamens in the centre are metamorphosed into petals, which generally retain their dark purple colour, or at any rate are much darker than the sepals. The other florists’ Anemones spring from A. stellata, or hortensis, and they are distinguished by having pointed sepals, and a white spot at the base of each, so as to form a white circle inside the cup of the flower. The involucre is a long way from the calyx, and when the flowers become double, the sepals can scarcely be distinguished from the metamorphosed stamens.
The hepatica or liverwort, the varieties of which look so pretty in our gardens in spring, was formerly considered to be a species of Anemone, and indeed the genus Hepatica appears to rest on very slight grounds. It has, however, been adopted by most modern botanists, and the Anemone Hepatica of Linnæus is now generally called Hepatica triloba. The normal form of the species is the single blue; and the double blue, the single and double pink, and the single and double white, are all only varieties of this. The hepatica agrees in all points with the Anemone, except in the involucre, which is so very like a green calyx, from the manner in which it enfolds the flower in the bud, as scarcely to be distinguished. I could not, indeed, be persuaded that this calyx-like covering was an involucre, till I turned back the apparent sepals, and found that their glossy surface was within: I also found that there was a very small portion of the stem between them and the flower, a circumstance which always distinguishes an involucre from a calyx, the latter forming part of the flower, and being always in some manner attached to the receptacle.
THE GENUS CLEMATIS.
This genus resembles the Anemone in having only one covering, an ornamental calyx, to its seed-producing organs. It has not, however, any distinct involucre; though in one species, C. calycina, there are two bracts, or floral leaves, which bear some resemblance to one. The flowers of the different species vary considerably in form, colour, and the number of the sepals; C. calycina and C. viticella having four, C. florida six, C. vitalba five, &c. All the species agree, however, in the seeds, which are produced singly, each in a separate awned carpel, which does not open, but drops with the seed, and is sown with it. These carpels, which are common to the genera Ranunculus, Anemone, Adonis, and many other kinds of Ranunculaceæ, are called caryopsides, and seeds thus enclosed are always much longer in coming up than any others. In some species of Clematis the awns of the carpels are smooth; but in others they are bearded or feathered, as in those of the traveller’s joy (C. vitalba), shown in fig. 7. The leaves of the Clematis vary considerably in form and arrangement; but the stems of the climbing species are furnished with tendrils, or slender twining leafless stems, which some botanists suppose to be metamorphosed leaves.