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12 - T. RANUNCULACE.E. [Ranunculus, 



and often tipped with a gland, especially wlien very narrow, and aclienes nu- 

 mcroiiSj with straight or scarcely hooked beaks, as in 72. GiinniamiS , Hairs 

 usually copious and spreading, and sepals not half so long as tlie petals, as m 

 R, lappaceus. Scapes usually 1 -flowered and leafless, or with a single leaf. 

 Petals more than 5, usually 8 to 10, narrow, the glandular pit usually very 

 faint and sometimes quite imperceptible. 



Victoria, Wet aljnne meadows of the Munyaug mountains, at an elevatiou of 5000 to 



6000 ft., F. Mueller. 



7. R. lappaceus, Sm, ; DC. Prod. i. 39. A perennial, more or less 

 clothed with, soft spreading or rarely silky and appresscd hairs. E.ootstocK 

 short, with long fi^bres and no stolons. Leaves chiefly radical, on long p^^- 

 tioles, usually divided into 3 or 5 deep lobes or segments, ovate or rhomboid- 

 cuneate, either pinnately distinct or, if confluent, almost palmate, although 

 the middle lobe is generally longer than the lateral ones, each lobe or segment 

 is often again lobed or toothed and sometimes mucli cut into naiTow lobes, 

 more rarely the leaves are all entire or shortly 3-lobed. Flowering stems 

 either a leafless 1 -flowered scape or branching and erect or decumbent, bear- ^ 

 ing several flowers and a few leaves, smaller and less divided than the radical \ 

 ones. Flowers of a rich yellow. Sepals hairy or rarely glabrous, usually 

 much shorter than the petals, appressed or open, but not closely reflexed. 

 Petals usually 5, broadly obovate and ratherdarge, with a small glandular pit 

 near the base. Carpels in a globular head, compressed or rarely turgid, gla- 

 hrous and smooth, with a recurved style, usually short, but longer and slender 

 in some western specimens. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 6 ; F. Muell. PI. Vict. i. 1 \ 

 R. colonornmy Endl, in Hueg, Enum. 1 ; R. dkcolor, Steud. in PL Preiss. i. 

 203 (calyx certainly not reflcxed). 



K. S. Wales. Port Jactsou and in the interior, apparently common, i2. Brown ana ^ 

 otLers. 



Victoria. Grassy places, from the lowlancls to the limits of eternal snow; here and 

 there also in bogiry aud swampy localities, F. Mueller. 



Tasmania. Very common all over the island up to the highest summits,/. D. Ilooher, 



S. Anstralia, In the pasture lands, Behr, 



"W, Australia. In sandy shady woods not far from the sea, Preiss, n, 1347- Black- 

 wood river, Oldjield, 



The following forms, all united by F. Mueller with 72. lappaceus, aud certainly appear- 

 ing sometimes to pass into the common one by intermediate gradations, are nevertheless 

 sutBciently well characterized to he considered at least as marked varieties ; — 



V&v. pimpineni/oli?iS. A small plant, with spreading hairs. Leaves all radical, distinctly 

 pinnate, with usually 5 short, broad, 3- or 5-lohed segments. Scapes 1 -flowered, leafless or 

 with one small bract. Pit of the petals usually distant from the base. IL pimpineU> 

 fonns. Hook. Jonrn. Bot. i. 243, and Ic. PI. t. 2G0. R, hirtus. Hook. f. Fl. Ta^^n. i. 

 6, but scarcely of Banks aud Solander, which has the reflcxed calyx and narrow petals ot 

 R. /)/.?($^iW.— Australian Alps, i?. Mueller. Tasuiania, iu moist places chiefly in the moun- 

 taioa, Gu?in, including an alplue form, with much smaller petals. 



Var. scapigeras. V*Ty villous. Leaves all radical, short aud broad, deeply 3^ or 5dobei 

 with obovate cuneate lobes, the middle one scnrcely longer than the lateral ones. Scapes 

 1 -flowered and leafless, or few-flowered with small leaves. Flowers small. Calyx almost 

 , Teflcxed.— iZ. scapigerus. Hook Journ. Bot. i. 244 ; Hook, f H. Tasm. i. 7.— Australia" 

 Alps, F.Mueller. Tasmania, mountains, Gunn. This form seems to pass almost iii^^^ 

 R. plebeius as to technical characters, but the habit is very different. 



L 



