Many of the crowfoot family have the calyx petaloid, as in marsh-marigolds, anemonies, clematises, Christmas roses, fennel-flowers, baneberries, columbines, and monkshoods. In mouse-tails each of the sepals develops near the base a tubular pouch or spur (Fig. 285).

Most commonly, the sepals, at least in the bud, overlap at the edges in such a way that some are wholly inside and some wholly outside, as shown in Figs. 282, 284. The sepals are then said to be imbricate,27 and the same term applies to petals or similar organs thus overlapping. When the parts touch at the edges without overlapping, as for example the sepals of clematis (Fig. 290) they are valvate.28 The arrangement of floral parts in the bud is called their cestivation; 29 of leaves, their vernation.30

27 Im'-bri-cate - L. imbricatus, overlapping like roof-tiles.

28 Val'-vate - L. valvoe, folding doors.

29 JEs'-ti-va-tion - L. oestivus, of the summer.

30 Ver'-na-tion - L. vernus, of the spring.

Almost all the flowers of the family have the parts of each whorl alike; that is, the carpels of a flower are repetitions of one another, likewise the stamens, the petals, and the sepals when present. Such flowers are called regular. A few of the family have irregular flowers, as for example the monkshood (Fig. 178) so called from the peculiar cowl-like form of one of the sepals which is larger than the others and partially enwraps them. The hood covers also a pair of staminodal nectaries. The stamens with anthers and the gynoecium are regular.

The stem part of the flower is called the torus 31 or receptacle. It represents the continuation of the flower-stalk or peduncle upon which the floral leaves grow. It is customary to speak of the way in which an organ is attached to its support as its insertion, or to say that the organ is inserted upon whatever bears it. Thus we say that the andrcecium and calyx of marsh-marigold are inserted upon the torus below the ovaries, or that their insertion is hypogynous.32 This implies that the gyncecium is inserted wholly above the other organs of the flower, or, in a word, that the ovaries are superior. Superior ovaries are found in nearly all of the crowfoot family. The torus is usually either convex (Fig. 290), conical (Fig. 293), or much elongated (Fig. 285). Peonies, on the contrary (Fig. 282), have the torus slightly concave so that it forms a shallow cup at the bottom of which thé pistils are inserted, while around its rim are borne the stamens, petals, and sepals. Such insertion of the androecium and floral envelopes makes them perigynous 33 and the ovaries half-inferior. Wholly inferior ovaries occur as we shall see in other families but not in this.

31 To'-rus - L. torus, a swelling, as being the swollen end of the floral axis.

32 Hy-pog'y-nous - Gr. hypo, beneath; gyne, pistil.

33 Pe-rig'-y-nous - Gr. peri, around.

Throughout the family the floral organs are free, that is to say each set is inserted on the torus independently and develops unconnected with other sets. Furthermore, with few exceptions, the organs of each set are distinct, that is, unconnected with one another. The chief exceptions are in certain species related to the Christmas rose and in fennel-flowers where, as we have seen, the carpels have grown up joined together or are somewhat coalescent34 as botanists say when the parts united are of the same sort.

34 Co-al-es'-cent - co, together; alescere, to grow up.

Another feature exhibited in general by the flowers of this family is the alternation of the parts, by which we mean that the members of one whorl or rosette stand in front of the spaces between the members of the next whorl or rosette, when of the same number. This is well shown in the floral diagrams, Figs. 178, 282, 284, 286, 287, 288, 290, 293. At first sight, this may not seem to be true of the stamens and staminodes of columbines and monkshoods but the alternation will be apparent when it is remembered that the parts are in whorls of five.

The fruit of a flowering plant is understood to include the seeds and whatever parts ripen with them. The ripened ovary is the pericarp35 which may be dry as in marsh-marigold and nearly all the other genera, or may be fleshy as in bane-berries. When the pericarp opens to release the seeds it is said to be dehiscent,36 and the manner of opening, its dehiscence. The pericarp of marsh-marigold dehisces by a vertical slit, or suture 37 along the ventral or inner side, i. e., the side toward the axis of the flower. A dry fruit consisting of one carpel dehiscing by the ventral or by the dorsal suture alone is called a follicle.38 For other examples see Figs. 282, 287. A dry pericarp consisting of two or more carpels is termed a capsule.39 The fruit of fennel-flowers (Fig. 286) is a capsule in which each carpel dehisces by a short ventral suture near the top. A further peculiarity of the pericarp of the species illustrated is that except where the carpels are united, the wall separates into an outside and an inside layer, leaving a considerable empty space between.

35 Per'-i-carp - Gr. peri, around; karpos, fruit.

36 De-his'-cent - L. dehiscere, yawn.

37 Su'-ture - L. sutura, a seam.

38 Fol'-li-cle - folliculus, dim. of follis, a wind bag.

39 Cap'-sule - L. capsula, dim. of capsa, a box.

Pericarps which do not open are said to be indehiscent. A small, dry, indehiscent fruit, like that of crowfoots, anemonies, and mouse-tails is termed an achene.40 A fruit like that of baneberries in which the whole pericarp is fleshy, is a berry.

40 A-chene' - Gr. a, not; chainein, yawn.

In a seed, as we have seen there is an outer protective layer, the seed-coat, enclosing the embryo and the seed-food or albumen. In marsh-marigold (Fig. 185) the seed-coat is of unequal thickness, the embryo minute and situated near one end of a comparatively large amount of albumen. Seeds essentially similar are found in the other members of the family.

In every part of the marsh-marigold, as we have seen, there is a colorless juice which is of sharp taste and poisonous properties if eaten fresh and raw. Such an acrid, watery juice containing a more or less poisonous, usually volatile, principle, is generally present throughout the family. Crowfoots, anemonies, and monkshoods, will be remembered as affording other examples already discussed in Chapter 5.