CROWFOOT FAMILY 



Corolla. — Petals five, small, pale yellow, with scale at 

 base, shorter than the sepals. 



Stamens. — Many. 



Pistil. — Many carpels, each tipped with minute curved 

 beak. 



Fruit. — Globular head of akenes. 



Pollinated by bees and flies. Nectar-bearing. 



The Small-Flowered Buttercup is abundant in 

 northern Ohio. Its first primary leaves are round, 

 heart-shaped, or kidney-shaped. Those that come 

 later are often three-parted. The petals are small, 

 so that the effect of the flower is very little yellow 

 corolla and a great deal of green calyx and green 

 centre. Indeed, the blossom does not look very much 

 like a Buttercup, and, compared wdth the well-known 

 Buttercups, bright and yellow, this little green ball 

 with five yellow tips seems scarcely w^orthy of the name ; 

 yet it is a true Ranunculus, and is underfoot every- 

 w^here in moist open woods, making great root masses 

 as well as tufts of stems. 



The Bulbous Buttercup, Ranilncidus hdbdsus, is also 

 an April bloomer. It is a species whose stem is bulbous- 

 thickened at base, which gives it its common name. 

 The leaves are three-divided and the segments vari- 

 ously cut and lobed. The flower is about three-fourths 

 of an inch across and bright yellow. The plant is not 

 native but came to us from Europe. 



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