20 RANUNCULACEAE 



the Schedae ad Florcwi Exsicc. Austro-Hungaricam, 44 (1888), tliat little 

 value can be placed on characters drawn from the form of the 

 divisions of the leaves, or from the presence or abs^ence of hairs on 

 the stems or petioles. In spring they may be glabrous and the 

 divisions of the leaves narrow, while in the autumn the stem and 

 petioles may be hairy and the leaf-segments may be broad. We have 

 a third form in our Thames meadows in which the rhizome is shorter 

 and not so horizontal. I may say that Herr Freyn of Prague, Prof. 

 A. Kerner, and Dr. R. von Wettstein have agreed as to my plant from 

 Loddon Bridge being the true K acris. 



The Meadow Crowfoot, which is generally distributed in Great 

 Britain, is a great ornament of our meadows and pastures in spring. 



S. repens, Linn. Sp. PI. 554 (1753). Creeping Buttercup^ Crowfoot. 



R. pratensis rejJens, Park. 329. Creeping and Thames Crowfoot, Pet. 

 Herb. Brit, xxxviii. 7 and 8. 



Top. Bot. 13. Syme, E. B. i. 40. t. 34. Nynian, 11. Curt. Fl. Lend. 



iv. t. 38. Fl. Oxf. 5. 

 Native. Agrestal, &c. Common and generally distributed, except on 

 the grassy chalk downs and in the heathy districts of the Bagshot 

 Sands. P. May-August. 

 First record, i?. repens, Mavors Agr. Berks, 1809. 



Two fairly marked forms of the plant are found, namely — 



Yar. ERECTUs, DC. Syst. i. 285, is almost destitute of runners, and 

 is a tall robust plant ; this is probably the var. suberectus, Gaud. Fl. 

 Helv. iii. 547. It is the E. hirsuius of Beesley's History 0/ Banbury, 

 cited in my Oxfordshire Flora, and probably of Dr. Noehden. 



Var. PROSTRATus, Gaud. 1. c, is the prostrate creeping plant which is 

 so abundant by river-banks and in cornfields. Both forms vary from 

 nearly glabrous (var. glabratus, DC. Syst. i. 285) to densel^^ hairy. 

 The very hairy erect plant with runners is the var. villosiusculus, Gaud. 

 1. c. Mr. Warde Fowler of Lincoln College brought me a specimen 

 gathered near Oxford which had two of the sepals reflexed ; E. Caley- 

 anus, Don, Gen. Syst. i. 37, has all of them reflexed. 



E. repens is frequent in waste ground, cornfields, ditch and river- 

 banks, garden ground, and roadsides in Berkshire and the bordering 

 counties. 



K. biilbosvis, Linn. Sp. PL 554 (1753), and of Thai. Buttercup, 

 Buttercr esses. 

 E. tuberosus, Dodoens, Pempt. 431. 



Top. Bot. 13. Syme, E. B. i. 41, t. 35. Nyman, 13. Fl. Oxf. 6. 

 Native. Pascual. Very common in meadows and pastures through- 

 out the county, preferring sunny situations. P. March-July. 



