A.L. de Jussieu (Buttercup )

Herbs, , or occasionally vines; stems with vascu- lar bundles often in several concentric rings or ± scat- tered; usually with alkaloids or ranunculin a lactone Floral formula: glycoside); often with triterpenoid saponins. Hairs usu- follicles, , berries ally simple.. usually alternate, simple, sometimes Distribution: Widespread, but especially characteristic of lobed or dissected, to compound, usually serrate, dentate, or temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. crenate, with pinnate to occasionally palmate venation; stipules usually lacking. determinate, some- Genera/species: 47/2000. Major genera: times appearing indeterminate or reduced to a single (400 spp.), (250), (250), , terminal. usually bisexual, radial to occa- (250), (150), and (100). Some of the sionally bilateral, with short to elongate . Peri- numerous genera in the continental and/or anth parts usually not 3-merous. Tepals 4 to numerous dis- Canada (in addition to those listed above ) are , tinct, and imbricate; or perianth differentiated into calyx and , , , Hydrastis, , , corolla, then usually 5, distinct, imbricate, and decidu- , and . ous, and usually 5, distinct, imbricate, often with nec- tar-producing basal portion or represented only by small Economic and products: The family is chiefly glands, probably derived from staminodes. Sta- important for its numerous ornamental herbs, such as mens numerous; filaments distinct; anthers opening by lon- Anemone (windflower, including ), Aconitum gitudinal slits; grains tricolpate (or ± modified). (monkshood), Actaea (baneberry, including ), Carpels usually 5 to numerous, occasionally reduced to 1, Aquilegia (columbine), Caltha (marsh marigold), Clematis usually distinct; ovaries superior, with usually parietal (virgin's bower). Delphinium (larkspur), Helleborus (helle- placentation; stigmas punctate or extending along one bore), Ranunculus (buttercup), Thalictrum (meadow rue), side of the style. 1 to numerous per carpel. and Trollius (globeflower). A number of genera are high- usually an aggregate of follicles or achenes, occasionally a (Figure 8.40). ly poisonous.

Figure 8.40 Ranunculaceae. : (A) flowering (x 0.5); (B) flower (x 3); (C) (x 12); (D) lateral view of carpel, with detail of nectar glands at base (x 10); (E) carpel in longitudinal section (x 10); (F) carpel in cross-section (x 15); (G) follicles from a five-carpellate flower (x 2); (H) (x 20); (I) seed in longitudinal sec- tion, note spongy seed coat, endosperm (stippled), and minute embryo (x 20). (From Wood 1974, A student's atlas of flowering plants, p. 29.)