subsessile, 2-3-pinnate-sect, ovate plates. Petals yellow, rarely white, 9-15. Persistent style often strongly recurved and appressed to the achene, rarely slightly recurved. Type: A. turkestanica (Korsh. )Adolf Series 4. Vernales Stem leaves sessile, 3-palmate-pinnate-sect, ovate plates. Petals yellow, 12-18. Persistent style greatly recurved and appressed to the achene. Type: A. vernalis L Subgen. 2. Adonis An annual herb with paler roots. The leaves are all normally developed, 3-4-pinnate-sect, rarely 3-ternate-sect, the last lobes linear or narrowly linear. Petals 8 or fewer, red or yellow, base usually dark-spotted. Anthers dark-purple or dark-blue. Carpel dorso-ventrally compressed below anthesis, flattened, lanceolate, gradually tapering from the ovary upwards into the generally broad style, longitudinally 1-ribbed on the back, glabrous. Aggregate fruits are generally conical or conical-cylindrical, subtended by a receptacle. Type: A. annual L. Sect. 1. Adonis Achene lacking a ventral projection, lacking or having a transverse crest, short persistent style. Type: A. annual L. Sect. 2. Rhynchocarpa Achene lacking a ventral projection, provided with a transverse ridge, persistent style more or less elongated 0.8–3 mm long tip often recurved. Type: A. aleppica Boiss. Sect. 3. Lophocarpa Achene provided with a ventral projection and a transverse crest, a short persistent style 0.2-l(-2)mm long straight rarely recurved. Type: A. summer L. Series 1. Aestivales Achenium ventral projection arranged above the middle of the ventral suture provided by a persistently removed style. Type: A. summer L. Series 2. Dentate Achene projecting ventrally to the apex of the ventral suture provided with a persistent style contiguous. Type: A. dentata Del. Cultivation and uses They are cultivated for use in gardens, and have been introduced to North America. Adonis spp. contain poisonous chemicals similar to those found in many other genera in the Ranunculaceae. See also Herbalism References External links Flora of China: Adonis USDA Plants Profile: Adonis Ranunculaceae genera