N. ORD.—RANUNCULACEZ-. 3 
Tribe.—RANUNCULEA. 
GENUS.—RANUNCULUS,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA, 
RANUNCULUS 
SO RLERAI US. 
CURSED CROW FOOT. 
SYN.—RANUNCULUS SCELERATUS, LINN. 
COM. NAMES.—CURSED CROWFOOT, CELERY-LEAVED CROWFOOT, 
MARSH CROWFOOT; (FR.) RANONCULE; (GER.) SCHARF HAHNEN- 
FUSS. 
A TINCTURE OF THE WHOLE PLANT RANUNCULUS SCELERATUS, LINN. 
Description.—This smooth perennial herb grows toa height of about 1 foot. 
Stem erect, glabrous, thick, succulent, hollow, and branching ; jwzce acrid and blis- 
tering. Leaves thickish, the upper sessile or nearly so, the lobes oblong-linear 
and nearly entire; stem-leaves 3-lobed, rounded ; root-leaves 3-parted, but not to 
the base, the lobes obtusely cut and toothed ; Aetzoles of the lower leaves long, and 
sheathing at their dilated bases. lowers small, pale-yellow; sepa/s reflexed ; petals 
scarcely exceeding the sepals. /7zt an oblong, cylindrical head; carpe/s numer- 
ous, barely mucronate. 
Ranunculus.—This large genus contains, in North America, 53 species and 
33 varieties, characterized as follows: toot annual or perennial. Leaves mostly 
radical, those of the stems alternate and situated at the base of the branches, 
variously lobed, cut, or dissected, seldom entire. Inflorescence solitary or some- 
times corymbed ; flowers yellow, rarely white. Sepals 5, rarely only 3, not append- 
aged, deciduous, and imbricated in the bud. etals 5, or often more, flat, with a 
little pit, pore, gland, or nectariferous scale at the base inside. Stamens numer- 
ous; filaments filiform. Style short, subulate. Fruit a cylindrical or rounded head, 
composed of numerous carpels; achenia mostly flattened and pointed by the remains 
of the style; seeds solitary, erect, rarely suspended. : 
History and Habitat.—The Cursed Crowfoot is indigenous to Europe and 
North America: with us it appears as if introduced. It grows in marshy tracts 
and wet ditches, and blossoms from June to August. 2 
‘The general and medical history of the species is generic, they having been 
used indiscriminately, R. sceleratus, however, being considered the most poisonous, 
its juice possessing remarkable caustic power, quickly raising a blister wherever 
* Latin for a little frog, referring to its habitat. 
