Description: Annual herbs.
Leaves alternate, palmately lobed or divided.
Flowers pedicellate, in simple or branched racemose inflorescences, zygomorphic, bisexual. Sepals 5, petaloid, the uppermost with a spur. Petals appearing only 1, though developed from 2 fused petals, with a spur lying within the sepal spur. Stamens in 5 spirally arranged series. Carpel 1.
Fruit a follicle.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 60 species, Mediterranean to C Asia. Australia: 1 species (naturalized).
Several taxa of Clematis and Ranunculus at present named as varieties appear to warrant specific rank. Some species of Anemone, Aquilegia, Clematis, Consolida, Delphinium, Nigella and Ranunculus are horticultural ornamentals; some Ranunculus species are weedy and many are somewhat toxic to stock. The previous record of Delphinium halteratum Sibth. & Smith naturalized on the NC is not substantiated, being based on a misidentification.
Text by B. G. Briggs & R. O. Makinson
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Consolida ajacis |
|
