Ranunculus.] I, banunculacej:. 15 



Tasmania. R. Brown, common, /. B. HooJcer, Gunn, 



"V^T, Australia, Brummond. 



The Australian variety above described, which occurs also in New Zealand, has smaller 

 flowers and achenes, and they are more frequently sessile than in the usual typical form, 

 which is widely spread over Europe. 



R. muricatus, Linn,; DC. Prod. i. 42. — A densely-tufted annual, much larger and 

 ^OhVAcv i\\vix\ R. parvijfonts ; leaves much longer and usually less divided; flowers larger, 

 yellow, on leaf-opposed peduncles ; carpels flat, much muricated, fully 2 lines long, with a 

 flat, stout, recurved beak : a common weed in southern Europe and many parts of Asia, has 

 now become wnld about Melbourne. 



R. philonotis, Retz ; DC. Rrod. i. 41. An annual, with 3-lobed or divided leaves 

 like some of those of R, parvijforus, but larger and less hairy, and with much larger yellow 

 nowers on terminal peduncles, with a closely-reflexed calyx : a common European species, 

 has been found ueai- the seacoast at Soutbporl, in Tasmania, by C. Stuart. 



5, CAIiTHA, Linn. 



Sepals 5 'or more, coloured and petal-like. Petals none. Carpels several, 

 sessile, distinct, bearing several ovules in a double row along their inner an- 

 gle, opening into follicles wlien ripe. Seeds obovoid ; testa crustaccous, 

 smooth, the raphe usually very prominent, — Glabrous, tufted, or stolonifcrous 

 herbs. Leaves mostly radieal, entire or crenate, with palmate nerves, cor- 

 date at the base, or sagittate with the auricles or basal lobes turned upwards 

 over their face. Scapes 1-flowcrcd and leafless, or few-flowered with a small 

 if'af at the base of each peduncle. Flowers yellow or rarely white. 



The genus-is confined to the temperate and cold regions of both the northern and sontbem 

 nemisphercs. The southern ones are almost always distinguished by the turued-up basal 

 lobes of the leaves. The only Australian species is endemic, unless it prove a variety of the 

 New Zealand one. 



1- C. introloba, F. MuelL in Trans. PJiil, Soc. Viet I QS, and PL 

 ^icL i, 10. A dwarf, glabrous, somewhat succulent perennial. Eootstock 

 thick, often elongated, producing numerous stoutish fibres. Leaves all radi- 

 cal, the petioles |- to 3 in. long, with broad, sheathing, membranous bases, 

 lormipg a stem-like sheath, reaching to half their length, the blade hastate- 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, | to 1 in. or rather more in length, the 2 basal lobes 

 turned over the upper surface, often reaching above half its length. Scapes 

 1-flowered, sometimes scarcely exceeding the leaf-sheaths, sometimes 6 to 8 

 "i- high. Sepals 5 to 8,lhicar-lanceolate, 4 to 5 lines long. Stamens usually 

 ^^^. Carpels sometimes 5 or 6, sometimes above 20, ovate-fiilcate or shortly 

 olilong, 2 to 3 lines long, and the outer ones almost horizontal when ripe, 

 Jipped by the persistent and usually straight style, containing 3 to 5 seeds. 

 Hook. f.FlTasm.ii. 355, . . 



F,lf^\°^^^' -^^ g^'^^'c% places irrigated by the melting suows in the Anstralian Alps, 



Tasmania, Western ^NTountams, Jrcrin: . , - 



very closely allied to the C. Nova.Ze/andi<B, Hook, f., from New Zealand, which indeed 



rill ^^V"^^' ^^ "^'^^^^ ^" ^^^ broader and shorter leaves and recurved styles. Tt Las also 



In » ^-i"*''"^*"^' ^^■^'^®* ^^e Australian one has them white, perhaps only when fading ; but the 



tt; ;''*^*^n^nre in the colour of the flowers oecnrs in different plants of C palnsfn.^ in the 



