Vor. I1.] CROWFOOT FAMILY. 85 
24. FICARIA Huds. Fl. Angl. 213. 1762. 
Glabrous slightly fleshy perennial herbs, with thickened tuberous roots, branched or 
simple spreading or erect stems, petioled entire or toothed cordate leaves, and large solitary 
yellow terminal or axillary flowers. Sepals 3 or sometimes 5, deciduous. Petals 7-12 
(commonly 8), yellow, or red at the base, bearing a small pit at the base of the blade (?). 
Stamens and pistils numerous. Achenes slightly compressed, blunt, not wrinkled nor ribbed. 
Cotyledon only one. [Latin, fig, from the fig-like thickened roots. ] 
About 4 species, natives of the Old World. 
1. Ficaria Ficaria (L.) Karst. 
Lesser Celandine. 
(Fig. 1629.) 
Ranunculus Ficaria I, Sp. Pl. 550. 
ira ranunculoizes Moench, Meth. 
215. 1794. 
Glabrous, flowering stems scapose, 
4/-5’ high, bearing 1 or 2 leaves or 
naked, erect from large fleshy thick- 
ened roots. Leaves ovate, cordate, 
obtuse, crenate, somewhat fleshy, on 
broad petioles, the blade 1/-2’ long; 
flowers yellow, 1’ broad; sepals 3; 
petals 8 or 9; head of fruit globose, 
¥4/ broad; carpels beakless, truncate. 
College Point, Long Island; Staten 
Island; Philadelphia. Fugitive from 
Europe, where it is a common pasture 
weed, occurring also in western Asia. 
Called also Pilewort and Figwort Butter- 
cup. April-May. 
2s. CYRTORHYNCHA Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1:26. 1838. 
A glabrous perennial herb, with fibrous roots, slender erect stems, crenate or lobed 
leaves, and small yellow flowers. Sepals 5, spreading, deciduous. Petals 5, narrowly spatu- 
late or oblong, bearing a small pit near the base. Stamens and pistils mumerous. Head of 
fruit globose. Achenes terete, longitudinally ribbed or nerved, tipped with the incurved 
style. [Greek, curved-beak. ] 
The genus as here recognized consists of the following species only. 
1. Cyrtorhyncha ranunculina Nutt. 
Nuttall’s Buttercup. (Fig. 1630.) 
Cyrtorhyncha ranunculina Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. N. 
A.1: 26. 1838. 
Ranunculus Nuttallii A. Gray, Proc. Acad. Phila. 
1863: 56. 1863. 
Ranunculus ranunculinus Rydberg, Bot. Surv. 
Neb. 3: 23. 18094. 
Slender, glabrous, erect, branched above, 6/— 
1o/ high. Roots thick and clustered, numerous; 
basal leaves on long slender petioles, bipinnate, 
the divisions deeply parted into oblong or linear, 
entire or dentate, acutish lobes; stem-leaves few, 
subtending the branches, ternately or pinnately 
parted into linear lobes; flowers few, somewhat 
corymbose, about 6’ broad; sepals yellow, petal- 
oid, spreading; petals spatulate; achenes 1//— 
14’ long, capitate in a globose head, glabrous, 
oblong-cylindric, obtuse, striate, not flattened, 
tipped with the slender recuryed style. 
In gravelly soil, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colo- 
rado, June. 
