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Characteristics of the family (from Jepson):
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, woody vine, occasionally aquatic.
Leaf: generally basal and cauline, alternate or opposite, simple or compound; petioles at base generally flat, occasionally sheathing or stipule-like.
Inflorescence: cyme, raceme, panicle, or flowers 1.
Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial; sepals 3–6(20), free, early-deciduous or withering in fruit, generally green; petals 0–many, generally free; stamens generally 5–many, staminodes generally 0; pistils 1–many, ovary superior, chamber 1, style 0–1, generally +- persistent as beak, ovules 1–many.
Fruit: achene, follicle, berry, +- utricle in Trautvetteria, in aggregate or not, 1–many-seeded.
Genera In Family: +- 60 genera, 1700 species: worldwide, especially northern temperate, tropical mountains; many ornamental (Adonis, Aquilegia, Clematis, Consolida, Delphinium, Helleborus, Nigella).
Toxicity: some highly TOXIC (Aconitum, Actaea, Delphinium, Ranunculus).