CROWFOOT FAMILY 211 



Ranunculus sceleratus var. multifidus Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 19. 1838. (Ranunculus 

 eremogenes Greene, Erythea 4: 121. 1896.) Basal leaves usually with the primary parts or divisions deeply 

 again parted or divided; pericarp smooth except for a circle of minute "pin-prick" depressions on each face. 

 Along ditches and often brackish lakes. Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; eastern Washington and Oregon 

 to northeastern Siskiyou and Modoc counties, California, east to Great Basin and Great Plains. Type locality: 

 Platte River. 



31. Ranunculus Purshii Richards. Pursh's Buttercup. Fig. 1852. 



Ranunculus Purshii Richards, in Frankl. 1st Journ. Bot. App. ed. 2. 741. 1823. 



Glabrous aquatic or palustrine perennial ; lower nodes rooting ; stems 1-3 dm. long. Leaves 

 frequently all cauline, 1-2 cm. long by 1 . 5-2 . 5 cm. broad, deeply cordate, 3-divided, the lateral 

 lobes forked, the outline hence pentagonal, petioles 1-3 or 4 cm. long ; sepals 5, thick and heavy, 

 spreading, round, glabrous; petals 5, yellow, little longer than the sepals, circular or obovate, 4-6 

 mm. long, nectary-scales variable; achenes 50-70 in an ovoid head 5-7 mm. long, turgid, ovate, 

 1-1.2 mm. long, smooth and glabrous, base with a suggestion of corky thickening beside the 

 keel, beak flattened, but not winged ; receptacle broadened and elongated in fruit. 



Ponds and lakes. Transition Zone; Whatcom County and eastern Washington, Klamath Lake, Oregon, and 

 Canada and the northern United States. Type locality: north-central Canada. June-July. This plant may be 

 only a variety of the Asiatic species, Ranunculus Gmelinii DC, cf. L. Benson, Bull. Torrey Club 69: 313. 1942. 



32. Ranunculus flabellaris Raf. Yellow Water Buttercup or 



Crowfoot. Fig. 1853. 



Ranunculus multifidus Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 736. 1814. Not Forsk. 177S. 

 Ranunculus flabellaris Raf. Amer. Mo. Mag. 2: 344. March 1818. 

 Ranunculus delphinifolius Torr. in Eaton, Man. Bot. ed. 2. 395. May 1818. 

 Ranunculus delphinifolius f. submersus Gluck, Beihefte Bot. Cent. 39. abt. 2. 328. 1923. 

 Ranunculus delphinifolius f. terrestris Gluck, loc. cit. 



Flaccid and glabrous aquatic perennial, the stems submerged, rooting below, about 40 cm. 

 long, fistulous. Leaves all cauline, semicircular to reniform, 1.5-5 cm. long by 2-7 cm. broad, 

 finely dissected, ultimate divisions 1 mm. broad; pedicels 4-10 cm. long; sepals deciduous in 

 anthesis, one-half as long as the petals ; petals 5-8, yellow, 8-15 mm. long, nectar pit in a pocket 

 on the ventral side of the scale ; achenes 50-75 in a nearly spherical or ovoid head 7-10 mm. 

 long, bodies 1-1.8 mm. long, smooth and glabrous, heavily corky-margined at the bases; the 

 beaks winged, as long as the bodies, sharply hooked at the tips ; receptacle thickening and elongat- 

 ing in fruit. 



Shallow water or mud, Transition Zone; British Columbia to eastern Washington and Oregon, the lower 

 Columbia River, and Humboldt, Mendocino, and Modoc Counties, California; eastward to Ontario, Maine, and 

 New Jersey, and south, in the Mississippi Valley to Louisiana. Type locality: Boston, Massachusetts. June-July. 

 The form growing in mud is smaller and more compact, and the leaves are less dissected. 



33. Ranunculus Cymbalaria var. saximontanus Fernald. Desert Buttercup 



or Crowfoot. Fig. 1854. 



Ranunculus tridentatus var. major H. B. K. in DC. Syst. 1: 253. 1818. Not Ranunculus Cymbalaria var. 



major Hook. f. & Thompson, 1855. 

 Ranunculus Cymbalaria var. saximontanus Fernald, Rhodora 16: 162. 1914. 



Glabrous perennial, scapes 5-30 cm. long, stolons several dm. long. Basal leaves cordate, 15- 

 25 mm. long by 12-20 or 25 mm. broad, shallowly crenately lobed ; sepals 5, 3-8 mm. long, gla- 

 brous, thick ; petals 5, yellow, 3-8 mm. long ; stamens about 20 ; achenes 100-300 in a cylindrical 

 head 5-10 mm. long and 3-5 mm. in diameter, body nearly oblong, the base truncate and nar- 

 rower than the apex, 1.5 mm. long by 0.8 mm. broad, compressed, thin-walled, each face with 

 about 4 longitudinal nerves or striations, the body produced into a deltoid beak 0.2 mm. long; 

 fruiting receptacle much elongated, cylindrical. 



Streams and springs and ocean inlets, mud or wet sand. Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones and sometimes 

 Transition Zone; arid western America, Alaska to Mexico, east to Nebraska; coastal southern California. Type 

 locality: Mexico. May-Sept. 



34. Ranunculus Codleyae Vasey & Rose. Cooley's Buttercup. Fig. 1855. 



Ranunculus Cooleyae Vasey & Rose, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 1: 289. pi. 22. 1893. 

 Kumlienia Cooleyae Greene, Erythea 2: 193. 1894. 

 Arcteranthis Cooleyae Greene, Pittonia 3: 190. pi. 3. 1897. 



Glabrous perennial, caudex 1 cm. long, scapes simple, 3 dm. long, bearing a single scale leaf. 

 Basal leaves reniform, 3-lobed, the lateral lobes dichotomously shallowly parted and lobed; 

 sepals 5, yellow, petaloid, 7-9 mm. long by 5 mm. broad, glabrous ; petals 7-16, yellow, 7-8 mm. 

 long by 2 mm. broad, the claw 4 mm. long, narrow, margins rolled ventrally into the forked 

 nectary scale whose margins flare into the blade; achenes 25-30, 2.5 mm. long by 1 mm. broad, 

 3-striate on each face, beak 1 . 3 mm. long, hooked at the tip ; receptacle broad and convex in fruit. 



Slopes near snow, Hudsonian Zone; Alaska to the mountains of western British Columbia and the Olympic 

 Mountains, Washington. Type locality: Juneau, Alaska. July-Aug. 



35. Ranunculus hystriculus A. Gray. Waterfall Buttercup. Fig. 1856. 



Ranunculus hystriculus A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 7: 328. 1867. 

 Kumlienia hystricula Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 337. 1886. 



Glabrous perennial, caudex less than 1 cm. long, scapes simple or branched, bearing no or one 



