RANUNCULACEiE. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 41 



mon, especially in slow-flowing waters, the eastern form with more soft and 

 flaccid leaves. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



Var. csespitbsus, DC. A dwarf terrestrial form, rooting at the nodes, 

 the small leaves somewhat fleshy, with broader rigid divisions. — S. 111. 

 {Schneck), and westward. 



* * Receptacle glabrous ; no submersed leaves. 



R. hederXceus, L. Rooting freely in shallow water; leaves all reniform 

 angulate-lobed. ^ Fresh-water marshes at Norfolk, Va. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. HALODES. Petals yellow, with nectariferous pit and scale ; carpeli 

 thin-walled, striate, in an oblong head ; scapose, spreading by runners. 



3. R. Cymbalaria, Pursh. (Sea-side Crowfoot.) Glabrous; scapes 

 1-6' high, 1 -7-flowered; leaves clustered at the root and on the joints of the 

 long rooting runners, roundish-heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, crenate, rather 

 fleshy, long-petioled ; petals 5-8. — Sandy shores, from New Jersey northward, 

 and along the Great Lakes to 111., Kan. and westward ; also at salt springs. 

 June- Aug. 



§ 3. RANUNCULUS proper. Petals with a little scale at the base, yellow ; 



achenes nerveless. 



* Achenes smooth; mtostly perennial. 



-t- Aquatic ; immersed leaves Jiliformly dissected, as in § Batrachium. 



4. R. multifidus, Pursh. (Yellow Water-Crowfoot.) Stems float- 

 ing or immersed, with the leaves all repeatedly 3-forked into long filiform 

 divisions, or sometimes creeping in the mud (perennial by rooting from the 

 nodes, if at all) ; emersed leaves with shorter and linear or wedge-shaped di- 

 visions, or else kidney -sliaped and sparingly lobed or toothed; petals 5-8, 

 deep bright yellow, 4 - 6" long, much larger than the calyx ; carpels in a 

 round head, pointed with a straight beak. — E. New Eng. to S. Penn., Mo., 

 and northward. May -July. — ( )ut of water it is often pulicscent, especially in 



Var. terrestris, Gray. Stem rooting in the mud or ascending from the 



base ; leaves all smaller, coarsely dissected, round-reniform in outline ; flowers 



and fruit twice or thrice smaller. — N. Ohio to N. 111., Minn., and westward. 



-t- H- Terrestrial but growing in very wet places, glabrous or nearly so; leaves 



entire or barely toothed, all or else all but the lowest lanceolate or linear ; 



carpels forming a globular head. (Spearwort.) 



5. R. ambigens, Watson. (Water Plantain Spearwort.) Stems 

 ascending (1 -2*^ high), often rooting from tlie lower joints; leaves lanceolate 

 or the lowest oblong, mostly denticulate (3-5' long), contracted into a mar- 

 gined half-clasping petiole; petals 5-7, bright yellow, oblong (2-3'' long), 

 carpels fattened, large {V long), [minted with a long narrow-subulafe beak. (R. 

 alismj»folius, Man., not Gey.) — N. Eng. to Out., Minn, and southward; com- 

 mon, especially at the north. June -Aug. 



6. R. Flammula, L. (Smaller Spearwort.) Stem reclining or 

 ascending, rooting below, leaves lanceolate or linear, or the lowest ovate- 

 oblong to lanceolate, entire or nearly so, mostly petioled (1 -2' long) , petals 

 5-7, much longer than the calyx, bright yellow, carpels small, fattish bat 

 turaid, nmcronate with a short abrupt point. — Only a small form (var inter- 



