RANUNCULACE^. 297 



* Mostly land plajtis, the leaves seldom cut into capillary segments; pedun- 

 cles not rejiexed after Jiouerivg; flowers mostly yelloiv; petals icith a 

 scale concealing the nectary; achenes without distinct transverse 

 ridges. — Ranunculus proper. 

 ■^Leaves undivided; achenes riot strongly compressed. 



1. R. Bolanderi, Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. ii. 58 (1886). Erect, stout, 

 ly^ — 3 ft. high; peduncles and calyx pubescent: radical leaves few, with 

 long petioles and reduced blade; cauline lanceolate, 3—6 in. long, rather 

 remotely and coarsely callous-denticulate: petals broadly obovate, 3 — 4 

 lines long: achenes many, in a large ovate head, the beak subulate, acute, 

 slightly incurved. — Long Valley, Mendocino Co., Bolander; apparently 

 rare. The species is much like R. lingua of Europe, but very distinct 

 from the next, with which it has been confused. 



2. R. alisinaefolius, Geyer; Benth. PL Hartw. 295 (1849); Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. xxi. 368, excl. syn. and var. Erect, 1 ft. high, pilose-pubescent 

 below, usually glabrous above; leaves mostly radical, short-peduncled, 

 suberect, lanceolate, entire: stem branching above, and peduncles elon- 

 gated: sepals and petals often persistent: achenes with a slender straight 

 beak, and disposed in a depressed-globose head. — Moist meadows of the 

 Sierra Nevada at middle and higher altitudes. June, July. 



3. R. alisinellns. R. alisnuvfolivs, var. aUsniellus, Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. vii. 327 (1868), xxi. 368. Dwarf, acaulescent, glabrous: leaves 

 elliptical, entire, acute, thin and flaccid, reclining or fully sustained on 

 the long slender petiole: scapes exceeding the leaves, very slender (often 

 with a leaf), 1-flowered: fl. }4 in. broad: carpels few, the mature ones 

 unknown. — Near the summit of the Sierra, also in the Trinity Mts., at 

 higher elevations than the last, and in very wet ground. It has often 

 been confused, by collectors and amateurs, with the next, to which it is 

 about as much allied as to the preceding. 



4. R. Flaiiiinnla, Linn. var. iiitermedius, Hook. Fl. i. 11 (1829). 



Stems slender or even filiform, rooting at the lower joints, 4 — 10 in. long: 

 leaves lanceolate, entire: fl. 2 — 5 lines broad: achenes few, with a very 

 short stout straight beak. — Frequent in both ranges of mountains, along 

 the muddy or sandy margins of pools, or in the smallest forms quite 

 submersed. Californian specimens are more slender and smaller than 

 the British American type of this variety; they are not, however, proj^erly 

 referable to R. replans. That is distinguished by linear leaves and a 

 prominent slender curved beak to the achene. 



5. R. pusillns, Poir. Encycl. vi. 99 (1804): R. pnsillus, var. irachys- 

 permus, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xxi. 367. Annual, erect, slender, 5 — 10 in. 

 high: leaves lanceolate or linear, the radical on slender petioles, entire; 



