208 RANUNCULACEAE 



late or lanceolate, l.S-S cm. long by 2.5-4 mm. broad, entire, petioles 1-6 cm. long or reduced, 

 not sheathing the stem; pedicels from any node, 1-4 cm. long; sepals greenish yellow, spread- 

 ing or somewhat reflexed, ovate, 3-5 mm. long, glabrous or pubescent ; petals 5 or 10, bright 

 yellow, rectangular-obovate, 6-9 mm. long ; stamens 20-30 ; achenes 10-25, the body obovoid, 

 turgid, smooth and glabrous, the beak short and thick, closely recurved; receptacle not enlarged 

 in fruit. 



Muddy or marshy ground or wet sand from sea level up to 1,000 meters or up to 2,500 meters southward, 

 Transition Zone; Alaska to north coastal and montane California, northern Arizona, and Colorado, and east- 

 ward to Newfoundland and New England. Type locality: Boston, Massachusetts. May-July. Variable in size 

 of leaves and amount of adventitious rooting. A few specimens from Washington and Oregon closely approach 

 typical R. Flammula which is marked by an almost obsolete achene beak. 



Ranunculus Flammula var. samolifolius (Greene) L. Benson, Bull. Torrey Club 69: 306. 1942. {Ranun- 

 culus samolifolius Greene, Pittonia 3: 13. 1900.) Cauline leaves usually sessile and the petioles inclined to 

 sheath the stem, the blades ovate to obovate or very broadly oblanceolate, 1 . 5-3 cm. long, 1-1 . 2 cm. broad. 

 Cascade Mountains of Oregon in Klamath County, to Plumas County, California. Type locality: Mount Shasta, 

 California. 



23. Ranunculus alismaefolius Geyer. Water Plantain Buttercup. Fig. 1844. 



Ranunculus alismaefolius Geyer ex Benth. PI. Hartw. 295. 1848. 

 Ranunculus Bolanderi Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 2: 58. 1886. 



Glabrous and robust perennial, stems erect, 3-8 dm. long, thick. Basal leaves lanceolate, 4-12 



cm. long by 1-3 cm. broad, blunt at the apex, tapering into the petiole, often serrulate, thick; 



cauline leaves alternate below, the bracts opposite ; sepals spreading, one-third the length of 



the petals, pubescent dorsally; petals 5, bright yellow, obovate, 1 cm. long; achenes 30-50 in a 



subglobose head, each 2 mm. long, the beak short and curving dorsally from the base ; receptacle 



enlarged by 4-5 mm. in fruit, pyriform. 



Muddy lake borders and ditches, Transition Zone; British Columbia south to Mendocino County, Califor- 

 nia, east to Idaho. Type locality: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. April-June. 



Ranunculus alismaefolius var. Hartwegii (Greene) Jepson, Fl. Calif. 534. 1922. Glabrous; stems 2-4 

 dm. long, 1.5-2.5 mm. in diameter, branching above, several-flowered; radical leaf blades lanceolate, 4-10 cm. 

 broad, entire, of intermediate thickness between R. alismaefolius and var. alismellus; petals 5, 6-8 mm. long, 

 the nectary scale attached nearly to its apex, often lobed; achenes 20-30, each 2 mm. long by 1.5 mm. dorso- 

 ventrally by 0.8 mm. laterally, the beak about 0.7 mm. long; receptacle 1-1.5 mm. long in fruit. Mountain 

 meadows, Transition Zone; Blue Mountains, Oregon, south in the Sierra Nevada to Calaveras County, Cali- 

 fornia; also in the northern Rocky Mountains. Type locality: Bear Valley, Nevada County, California. 



Ranunculus alismaefolius var. alismellus A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 7: 327. 1868. Glabrous; stems 

 1—2 or 3 dm. long, 1—1.5 mm. in diameter, often simple, usually 1- or 2-flowered; radical leaf blades ovate- 

 lanceolate or sometimes ovate, 2-4 cm. long, entire, thin; petals 5, about 6 mm. long, the nectary scale attached 

 usually almost to its apex, truncate or rounded; achenes 10-30, each 1.5 mm. long by 1.2 mm. dorsoventrally 

 by about 0.5 mm. laterally; receptacle about 1 mm. long in fruit. Mountain meadows, Canadian and Hudson- 

 ian Zones; eastern peaks of the Cascade Mountains, Washington, high mountains of Oregon, Siskiyou Moun- 

 tains, high North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino, and San Jacinto Mountains, California. 

 Type locality: Lake Tenaya, Yosemite National Park, California. 



Ranunculus alismaefolius var. Lemmonii (A. Gray) L. Benson, Amer. Journ. Bot. 23: 172. 1936. Com- 

 monly pilose at least on the stems and petioles; stems decumbent, 1.5-3 dm. long, 1.5-3 mm. in diameter; 

 radical leaves lanceolate, 3-9 cm. long by 5-10 mm. broad, entire; petals 5, 8-16 (mostly 10) mm. long, the 

 nectary scale like the typical species; achenes about 20, each about 2 mm. long by 1.8 mm. dorsoventrally by 

 about 0.8-1 mm. laterally, pubescent, glabrate, or glabrous, the beak 0.5-1 mm. long; receptacle pyriform, 

 2—5 mm. long in fruit. Transition Zone; valleys in the arid mountain region from Mount Lassen to Truckee, 

 California. Type locality: Sierra Valley, California. 



24. Ranunculus oresterus L. Benson. Blue Mountain Buttercup. Fig. 1845. 



Ranunculus oresterus L. Benson, Amer. Journ. Bot. 26: 555. 1939. 



Practically glabrous terrestrial perennials, the roots very numerous, filiform, 0.5—1 mm. in 

 diameter, each root densely covered with hairs for its entire length ; stems erect, not rooting, 

 about 1 dm. long, 2-4 flowered, glabrous except for long appressed stout hairs at the bases. 

 Radical leaf blades simple, each broadest at the middle and tapering to the acute ends, 2-4.5 cm. 

 long by about 6-7 mm. broad, entire, glabrous, petioles 2-4 cm. long, stipular leaf base perhaps 

 forming almost the entire petiole ; cauline leaves alternate or almost opposite, sessile ; sepals 

 yellowish and petaloid, spreading, narrowly oblong, 3 mm. long by 1-1.5 mm. broad, the length of 

 the petals; petals 5, yellow, narrowly oblong, 3 mm. long by 1-1.5 mm. broad, the nectary scale 

 glabrous, apparently forming a pocket; stamens 5-10; achenes 15-25 in a depressed-globose 

 head 2-4 mm. long by 2.5^ mm. in diameter, each achene obovoid or oblong-obovoid, 1-1.5 mm. 

 long by 0.7-1 mm. dorsoventrally by 0.7-0.8 mm. laterally, smooth, glabrous, the beak filiform, 

 0.4-0.6 mm. long, not curved; receptacle 1.5-2.5 mm. long in fruit, glabrous. 



In swales at the summit of the Blue Mountains, altitude 1,300 meters, Baker-Canyon City Road, Oregon. 

 Known only from the type collection and from a second collection in southern Idaho. May-June. 



25. Ranunculus hydrocharoides A. Gray. Frog's-bit Buttercup. Fig. 1846. 



Ranunculus hydrocharoides A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. II. 5: 306. 1855. 



Glabrous, aquatic perennial, the roots filiform, fasicled at the lower nodes; stems 10-25 cm. 

 long, fistulous, inflated. Basal and cauline leaves alike, broadly ovate to suborbicular or elliptic, 

 1 . 5-3 . 5 cm. long, entire ; sepals greenish yellow, spreading, ovate, half the length of the petals, 

 early deciduous ; petals 5, straw-yellow, narrowly obovate, about 5 mm. long ; achenes 20-25 

 in a subglobose head 3-4 mm. long, rather well-compressed, 1 mm. long, margin distinctly visible, 

 beak fleshy with a recurving, hook-like tip ; receptacle short, very little enlarged in fruit. 



Owens Lake, California, eastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. Type 

 locality: Mabibi, Sonora, Mexico. June— July. 



