534 RANUNCULACEAE 



Stagnant ]ionds or pools or slow-flowing streams: Humboldt Co.; ilodoc Co. 

 North to British Columbia, east to the Atlantic. Siberia. Rarely collected in 

 California. 



Locs. — Grouse Creek, Hiunbolilt Co., Chesnut rf- Dreu: : iie. Modoc Co., Manning 12(). 



Refs. — Ranuncuhts delphinifolius Torn; Eaton, Man. ed. 2, 395 (1818), type loc. pre- 

 sumably e. U. S. li. rnultifidus Pursli, Fl. TAG (1814), not Forsk. 



2. R. hydrocharoides Gray. Aquatic perennial ; stems rather slender, spar- 

 ingly branclied above, 3 to 8 inches high from a coarse but short vertical root- 

 stock, which also produces creeping stems ; leaves mostly basal, these long-petioled, 

 simple, ovate to cordate, entire, undidate and somewhat callous-margined, 5 to 

 12 lines long, a little succulent ; flowers 2i o to 31/. lines broad ; upper leaves 

 obovate or spatulate ; achenes •%. line long. 



Marshes and springs: Owens Valley, ace. (Irny; (?)Dead Horse Caiion, Sis- 

 kiyou Co., M. S. Baker (leaves 1 to 1% inches long). Arizona to ]\Iexico. Aspect 

 suggestive of a small Sagittaria. 



Eefs. — Ranunculus HVUROCHAEorDES Gray, PI. Tliurb. 30(i (1854), type loe. Mabibi, 

 Sonora, Hex., TImrber; Syn. Fl. l':26 (1895)." 



3. R. alismaefolius Geyer. Stems stout, somewhat fistulous, erect, sparingly 

 branched above, several-flowered, 8 to 18 inches high, arising from a short per- 

 ennial rootstock bearing thick-fibrous roots; herbage glabrous, rarely a little 

 hairy ; leaves oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 21/4 to 6 inches long, mostly 5 to 8 

 (or 12) lines broad, tapering to apex, and at base usually tapering gradually 

 into the petiole, the basal and lower leaves long-petioled, the upper shortly 

 petioled or sessile, entire or commonly a few on a jilant obscurely serrulate ; 

 flowers 8 to 10 lines broad; petals 5, roundish obovate; achenes smooth, glabrous, 

 turgid, 1 line long, with a short-subulate introrse beak. 



Swamps in Mendocino and Hiunboldt cos. North to British Cohunbia and 

 Idaho. 



Locs. — Long Valley, Bolander 4730; Bnrr Valley, Buck Mt., Tracy 4155. 



Var. hartwegii Jepson n. comb. Stems slender, not fistulous, ascending, 3 to 13 inches 

 liigli, usually a little leafy, simple or sparingly branched, but umbellately 3-flowcred at summit; 

 .stems and petioles hairy or glabrous; leaves lanceolate or oblongdanceolate, 1 to 4 inches long, 

 tapering gi'adually into the petiole or the uppermost sessile or nearly so; petioles about half 

 as long as the blade, rarely longer; flowers 5 to 8 lines broad; achenes with short-filiform or 

 slender beak. — Higher altitudes (4500 to 9000 feet) in the Sierra Nevada from Tuolumne Co. 

 north to Siskiyou Co., thence southwesterly to northern Trinity Co. Tliis variety passes into 

 var. alismellus, although the two in their extreme forms are quite different. 



Locs. — Sonora Pass, A. L. Grant 147; Twin Lakes, Alpine Co., Hansen 1306; Lake Tahoe, 

 Anna King : Prosser Creek, Sonne; Big Mdws., Pliunas Co., i?. M. A^istin; Lassen Peak, Jepson 

 4091; Modoe Co., M. S. Baker; Medicine Lake, Siskivou Co., M. S. Baker; Goosenest Mt., 

 Butler 1322; Salmon Mts., Hall 8617. 



Var. alismeUus Gray. (Fig. 106.) Leaves thin, mostly or usually wludly basal, these and 

 the stems in dense tufts; stems 2 to 10 inches high, commonly simple and 1 -flowered, naked 

 or 1 or 2-leaved: heritage glabrous, sometimes slightly hairy at base; leaves ovate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, 4 to 12 lines long, on petioles as long or longer, the few stem leaves nearly sessile; 

 flowers 3 to 6 lines broad. — Alpine or subalpine wet meadows or shallow s'.reamlets, 7000 to 

 10,500 feet, often filling gravelly meadows ivith golden bloom: Sierra Nevada; far Xortli Coast 

 Ranges; high mountains of Southern California. July. 



Locs. — In its most extreme form this is a plant with the leaves all basal in a dense compact 

 even tuft and the strictly naked simple 1-flowered scapes rising an inch or two above them ; 

 the leaves ai'e mostly broad (ovate, oval or elliptic), with the blade clearly defined from 

 the petiole. Such plants are rather characteristic of sloping gravel drifts with trickling water 

 ("snow runs") or wet sandy meadows, as for example about Smedberg Lake, Yosemite Park 

 (Jepsdn 3380). More commonly the scapes are sparingly leafy but only 1-flowered, rarely 

 2 or 3-flowered. The following specimens verify the range of var. alismellus. — Sierra Nevada: 

 Lassen Peak, Jepson 4095; Donner Pass, Heller 7010; Yosemite Park, Jepson 4503 (Benson 

 Pass), 3232, 3236 (Vogelsang Pass); Huntington Lake, Fresno Co.. A. L. Grant 1030; Mt. 

 Silliman, Jepson 748; East Fork Kern "River,, Jepson 5048; Templeton Mt., Tulare Co., Jepson 



