28 
Var. a, vulgaris (D.C. 1. c.) stem branched at the bottom ; 
leaves ternate; segments trifid, cut, acute. Native of the Levant. 
— Clus. hist. 1. p. 241. f. 2. R. Asiaticus, Mill. icon. t. 216; 
dict. No.11. A very variable variety and a great ornament to 
gardens, where its variations are innumerable. Flowers double 
or single, white, yellow, red, purple, and variegated, in fact of all 
colours, blue excepted. This variety is called the Persian Ra- 
nuncu'us. 
Var. P, sanguineus, (D. C. prod. l. c. syst. 1. p. 262.) stem sim- 
ple; leaves ternate ; segments toothed, obtuse. Native of the Archi- 
pelago, Caria, Cilicia, and Syria.—Clus. hist. 1. p. 242. icon. 
R. sanguineus, Mill. dict. No. 10. Flowers always double, pur- 
ple, yellow, orange, and variegated with the same colours, ex- 
cluding all colours verging upon white or blue. This variety is 
called the Turkey Ranunculus. 
Var. y, tenuilobus (D. C. 1. c.) stem somewhat branched ; 
leaves multifid, with linear-acute lobes. Native of the island of 
Cyprus. R. Creticus albo flore. J. Bauh. hist. 3. p. 862. f. 2. 
(ex herb. Vaill). Flowers white, yellow, rarely purple. 
According to Maddock a fine Ranunculus should have a strong 
straight stem from 8 to 12 inches high. The flower should be of 
an hemispherical form, at least two inches in diameter, consisting 
of numerous petals gradually diminishing in size to the centre, 
lying over each other, so as neither to be too close, nor too much 
separated, but having morc of a perpendicular than a horizontal 
direction, in order to display the colours with better effect. The 
petals, with entire well-rounded edges, their colours dark, clear, 
rich, or brilliant, either of one colour or variously diversified on 
an ash, white, sulphur, or fire-coloured ground, or else regularly 
striped, spotted, or mottled in an elegant manner. The varieties 
raised from seed are endless. Maddock, in the end of the last 
century, had nearly eight hundred, all with proper names, and 
ranged as purple, grey, crimson, red, rosy, orange, yellow, white, 
olive, coffee, striped, spotted, &e. No plant is more prolific in 
new varieties from seed; no two plants, as Maddock observes, 
producing flowers alike, or the same as the original. Established 
-sorts are propagated by offsets which usually flower the first year ; 
rare sorts may be multiplied by dividing the crown of the tuber 
with a sharp penknife into as many parts as there are buds: these 
will not flower till the second year, but will diminish the risk of 
losing a very rare variety. 
The Ranunculus prefers a fresh loamy soil, rather than other- 
wise inclined to clay: it should be well manured, and it is custom- 
ary in forming the beds to place a stratum of well-rotted cow- 
dung, six or nine inches below the surface, which both retains 
moisture and supplies nourishment. The roots may either be 
planted in November or earlier, in which case, to prevent their being 
destroyed by the frost, they should be mulched, or they need not 
be planted till March. The former mode gives much the strongest 
bloom, as the roots when kept in air all the winter are apt to be 
over dried, and kept in sand they sometimes get mouldy, and in 
this and similar cases the progress of vegetation from the plant- 
ing to the flowering period is more rapid than is natural to the 
plant. Ranunculus roots will retain their vegetative properties 
two and sometimes three years, a thing not uncommon among bulbs 
and tubers. In order to obtain good new varieties of this plant, 
seeds ‘should be saved from the best plants of the semi-double 
kinds, and be sown in flat pans or boxes filled with light rich 
earth in August, covering them a quarter of an inch thick with 
the same sort of earth, placing them in a frame when frost is 
apprehended. In the following season, when their leaves begin 
to decay, the roots may be taken up and dried in the same manner 
as the old roots, and planted with them in October, and in the fol- 
lowing summer they will produce flowers, when such as are good 
should be marked. The plants intended to flower should not be 
RANUNCULACEZ. XIV. Ranuncvutus. 
suffered to run to seed, as roots which have produced seeds seldom 
furnish fine flowers afterwards. 
Asiatic Crowfoot, or common garden Ranunculus. FI. May, 
June. Clt. 1596. Pl. = foot. 
25 R.Javo’xicus (Thunb. in Lin. soc. trans. 2. p. 337.) leaves 
hairy, radical ones roundish, 3-cleft, with toothed, cut lobes, 
upper ones cleft; stem erect, hairy, branched at the top. Y. H. 
Native of Japan near Nagasaki, Jedo, and elsewhere, common in 
ditches. R. Asidticus, Thumb. jap. 241. R. Langsdorfii. Spreng. 
syst. 2. p. 652. All parts of the plant except the corolla are 
hairy. Stem flexuous, scarcely leafy, branching into peduncles 
at the top. 
Japan Crowfoot. PI. 1 foot. 
26 R. Kra'rrra (D.C. in Deless. icon. sel. 1. t. 35.) leaves 
villous, radical ones on long stalks, ovate, somewhat trifid, toothed, 
stem ones small, tapering to the base, trifidat the top; stem 1- 
flowered. 4y. H. Native of Chile about Huassa-Huassi. Krápfa 
ranunculina. D.C. syst. 1. p. 228. Petals 5, from the dried 
specimen apparently purple, obovate, retuse nearly as in 7’ róllius 
Europæ us, and about the same size, equalling the calyx in length. 
Krápf’s Crowfoot. Pl. 1 foot. 
27 R. Guzm anni (Humb, tabl. reg. equ. 69. nov. gen. 5. 
p- 43.) upper surface of leaves and petioles villous, radical leaves 
rather orbicular, trifid; lobes grossly toothed at the top; upper 
leaves trifid with oblong entire lobes; stem erect, pilose, few- 
flowered ; calyx pressed, very villous. X4. H. Native of the 
rocky tops of the Andes near to the Equator. Deless. icon. sel.1. 
t. 34. Petals obovate, rather orbicular, scarcely longer than 
the calyx. l 
Guzmann’s Crowfoot. PI. 4 foot. 
28 R. macrorr'raLus (D. C. prod. 1. p. 29.) petioles fur- 
nished with a broad membrane ; radical leaves orbicular, crenated, 
smooth, or pilose, cauline ones ovate-lanceolate, sessile; stem 
smooth, few-flowered; calyx pressed, much smaller than the 
petals. 2.H. Native of Peru on mountains. R. cochleari- 
fòlius, R. et P. in herb. Lamb. not Horn. Leaves large. 
Flowers resembling a Tróllius but rather larger. 
Long-petalled Crowfoot. Pl. 14 foot. 
29 R. Cre’ricus (Lin. spe. 775.) leaves and stems hairy, ra- 
dical ones stalked, cordate-orbicular, somewhat cut, toothed, 
stem ones sessile, 3-parted; lobes oblong obtuse, somewhat 
toothed at the top; stem branched, many-flowered; calyx pressed. 
X.H. Native of the islands in the Archipelago, especially in 
Crete, Scio, &e. Aubr. in pict. hort. par. 37. t. 97.—Clus. hist. 
1. 236. f. 1. Flowers large golden. Carpels smooth, much com- 
pressed, acuminated with the permanent styles, crowded into 
elliptical-cylindrical heads. 
Var. B, macrophyllus (Desf. atl. 1, p. 437.) leaves less villous, 
larger, profoundly lobed, with the teeth a little rounder. Native 
of Barbary, near Sbiba, on the borders of rivulets. 
Cretan Crowfoot. Fl. April, May. Clt.1658. Pl. 1 foot. 
30 R. cortusxronius (Willd. enum. 588.) leaves and stem 
somewhat pilose ; radical leaves somewhat cordate-reniform, a 
little lobed, broadly crenated, stem ones almost sessile, 3-5-parted, 
floral ones lanceolate ; stem branched, corymbose ; calyx spread- 
ing much. Y%.H. Native of the Canary Islands on rocks, as 
well as of Sicily. Deless. icon, sel. 1. t. 36.—Pict. hort. par- 
37. t. 96, exclusive of the synonyms. R. heuchereefdlius, Presl. 
Flowers yellow, smaller than in R. Créticus, but larger than in 
R. lanugindsus. Fruit as in R. Créticus. 
Var. a, ragical leaves orbicular and cordate at the base, ex- 
actly like those of Cortùsa Mathìola, stem ones with toothed 
obes. 
Var. B, Teneriffe (Pers. ench. 2. p- 103.) radical leaves reni- 
form, somewhat truncate at the base, scarcely cordate, cauline 
