MB. F. 0. 8. EOPEB ON BANTTNCTTLTTS LINGUA. 381 



find that out of thirty authors of general or local floras, seven 

 describe the leaves of Ranunculus Lingua simply as " lanceolate; " 

 three call them "lanceolate and amplexicaul;" two "lanceolate 

 and nearly sessile ; " and eleven describe them as " lanceolate, 

 amplexicaul, and sessile." Thus twenty-three out of the thirty 

 simply describe the long, narrow, lanceolate leaves of the flower- 

 ing stem ; whilst, on the other hand, there are only seven who 

 allude to the early submerged leaves, although these alone are 

 to be found for some months during the early part of the year. 



These early submerged leaves differ in almost every respect 

 from the aerial stem-leaves — as whilst these latter are narrow lan- 

 ceolate, almost sessile, slightly sinuate -denticulate, frequently 

 covered with adpressed hairs, and from three quarters to one 

 inch in breadth, — the submerged leaves are three to four inches 

 broad, ovate or oblong-ovate, cordate at the base, seven to nine 

 inches long when full-grown, on petioles four to five inches 

 long, rather membranous and semitransparent, perfectly glabrous, 

 and not at all denticulate at the edges, and with a much more 

 reticulate venation than the rather thick and almost coriaceous, 

 opaque stem-leaves. 



I will now briefly allude to the authors I have consulted. 

 Gerard. Herb. 813 (1597), says "... long smooth leaves not 

 unlike those of the "Willow." Johnson, in his edition says " long 

 leaves a little hairy, not unlike those of the Willow" (Ger. em. 961, 

 1633). Smith in Engl. Bot. ed. i. tab. 100 (1793), merely says 

 " leaves lanceolate," a translation of the diagnosis in Linnaeus's 

 Sp. Plant., as used also by :— Hudson, Flor. Ang. 210, id. ed. 2. 

 340; Relhan, Flor. Cant. (1784) and (1820); Gren. & Godr. 

 Fl. de Fr. 1848 ; Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. 3rd ed. (1857) ; Ben- 

 tham, Br. FL, both editions, 1865 and 1878. In the « Flore Fran- 

 chise,' Lam. and DC. (1805) describe the leaves as " lanceolate 

 and amplexicaul ; " and are followed in this by Eeich. Fl. Germ. 

 Excurs. (1830-32), and Bouvier, Fl. des Alpes (1878). In With. 

 Arr. Br. PI. 1830, the leaves are said to be " lanceolate and 

 nearly sessile," in which Woods, Tour. Fl. (1850), coincides. Gray, 

 Nat. Arr. Br. PI. 1821, is the first who describes the leaves as 

 " lanceolate, slightly serrate, sessile, nearly embracing the stem ;" 

 and is followed by Grev. Fl. Ed. 1824 ; De CandoUe's Prod. 1824 ; 

 Bluff and Fing. Comp. Fl. Germ. 1825; Mack.Fl. Hibern. 1836; 

 Hook. Br. Fl. edit. 4 (1838) ; Leight. Fl. Shrops. (1841) ; Bab. 

 Man. ed. 1 to 7, 1843-1874 ; Gren. Fl. de la Ch. Juras. 1865- 



