BUTTERCUP FAMILY 95 



trees by the aid of their leaf-stalks, thus making more con- 

 spicuous the showy flowers, which are borne in clusters on 

 long peduncles from the upper leaf-axils. It belongs to low 

 altitudes but reaches Wawona and the Hetch Hetchy. 



2. THALICTRUM. Meadow-rue. 



1. T. fendleri Engelm. Leaves glabrous, alternate, com- 

 pound to thrice compound (leaflets with rounded lobes), the 

 3 to 5 basal ones with long petioles dilated at insertion, the 

 uppermost sessile. Flowers on leafy stems, staminate and pis- 

 tillate on different plants. Sepals greenish, falling early. 

 Petals none. Stamens many; filaments thread-like; anthers 

 linear, attached at base. Akenes 5 to 15, sessile, swollen on 

 one side, about % in- long, tapering to the slender persist- 

 ent style. 



The fern-like leaves of the Meadow-rue are borne on 

 smooth, perennial stems 1 to 3 ft. high. The numerous, 

 greenish, staminate flowers are like so many tassels suspended 

 from the branches of a loose panicle. It grows in moist 

 places at all altitudes below timber-line. T. polycarpum Wats, 

 is a related species of the foothills, and reported from Yo- 

 semite Valley, distinguished by its very numerous akenes 

 each about % in. long. 



3. RANUNCULUS. Buttercup. Crowfoot. 

 Herbaceous fibrous-rooted perennials with yellow or white 

 flowers. Sepals and petals 5 to 15 each, the latter with a small 

 nectar-bearing pit at base or reduced to scales. Pistils numer- 

 ous, developing into a globular or oblong head of akenes. 



Flowers white; leaves finely dissected; aquatic 1. R. aquatilis. 



Flowers white; leaves roundish, lobed 2. R. hystriculus. 



Flowers yellow. 

 Leaves entire. 



Stems creeping, rooting from the nodes 4. R. flammula. 



Stems not rooting from the nodes 5. R. alismaefolius. 



Leaves lobed or parted. 



Plant 9 in. or less high, glabrous. 



Flower-stalk naked 3. R. cymbalaria. 



Flower-stalk leafy-bracted 6. R. o.vynotits. 



Plant 1 to 2 ft. high, pubescent. 



Akenes (seed-bodies) round, with short incurved 



beak 7. R. calif omicus. 



Akenes ovate, with long straight beak 8. R. orthorhynchus. 



1. R. aquatilis L. Water Buttercup. Leaves roundish, the 

 submersed ones divided into many thread-like divisions. 

 Flowers white, with yellowish centers, short-stalked and as 



