228 Class XIII. Order VI. 



roots, one on each side the petiole, and an axillary branch or leaf, 

 or peduncle. Stipules oblong, clasping. Peduncles opposite to 

 leaves, smooth, compressed, not furrowed. Calyx of five con- 

 cave striate leaves. Petals five, oblong-wedge form, narrow, 

 with spaces between them, white with a yellow base. Nectary 

 a truncated tube. In deep brooks. July, August. Perennial. 



RANUNCULUS MULTIFIDUS. Pursh. Yellow Water Ranunculus. 

 Floating, leaves capillary, many-cleft, with axillary 

 leafets ; peduncles opposite to bractes ; petals from 

 five to eight, obovate- wedge shaped. 



Syn. RANUNCULUS FLUVIATILIS. Flor. Bost. 1st edit. 



Stem floating, three or four feet long, round, smooth, tubular, 

 a little branched at top, and sending out very long thread shaped 

 roots from the lower joints. Leaves immersed, alternate, with 

 short concave petioles, cleft into innumerable capillary, flattish 

 segments, at first ternately, and afterward by forks. In the axil 

 of each leaf is commonly a similar leafet on a long petiole, or 

 sometimes a small branch. Stipules thin, oblong, obtuse. Bractes 

 oblong, sometimes three cleft, and now and then subdivided into 

 linear segments like the leaves, but broader and shorter. Pe- 

 duncles opposite to bractes, large, slightly furrowed. Calyx of 

 five yellowish, obtuse, concave, caducous leafets. Petals five, and 

 often more, obovate-wedge shaped, yellow, shining, twice as 

 long as the calyx and as large as R. bulbosus. Nectary ovate, 

 concave, with erect edges. Seeds smooth, with conical, erect, 

 recurved points. Found in stagnant waters. May, June. Pe- 

 rennial. 



This species was first described in the former edition of this 

 work under the name of R. fluviatilis, of which it was then con- 

 sidered a variety. Mr. Pursh has since described in his supple- 

 ment, under the name of R. multifidus, a plant found in Upper 

 Louisiana, agreeing in most respects with this, and which, I am 

 informed, on comparison of specimens, turns out the same. The 

 R. multifidus of Rees' Cyclopedia is a wholly different, Egyptian 

 plant. Decandolle, who adopts Pursh's name for the American 

 plant, applies the appellation, R. Forskcehlii, to the Egyptian 

 species. 



