CLASS XIII. ORDER HI.] RANUNCULUS. 789 



** Pericarps smooth ; petals with the claiv furnished ivith a small 

 nectariferous scale. Perennial. 



1. Leaves undivided. 



5, R. Lin'gua, Linn. (Fig. 898.) Great Spear-wort. Leaves linear 

 lanceolate, sub-serrated, sessile, sub-amplexicaul; stem erect, simple; 

 carpels compressed, with a thin narrow margin; beak broadly ensiform, 

 nearly as long as the carpel. 



English Botany, t. 100. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 46. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 218. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 10. 



/S. major. Leaves broadly lanceolate. 



i?oo< numerous whorled fibres from the joints of the stolons. Stem 

 erect, from two to four feet high, round, hollow, simple, leafy, smooth 

 or hairy, stout. Leaves alternate, sessile, and half embracing the stem, 

 smooth, or scattered over with a few short hairs, linear lanceolate, with 

 an attenuated point, or as in /3. broadly lanceolate, the margin entire, 

 or unequally serrated, paler on the under side, with a stout mid-rib 

 and obsolete lateral veins. Flowers not very numerous, large, hand- 

 some bright yellow, on round hairy pedicles. Calyx ovate, concave, 

 with a thin membranous margin, hairy, and soon falling away after 

 the flower is blown. Petals large, roundish, wedge-shaped, with a 

 short claw, the nectariferous scale forming a short tube. Stamens nu- 

 merous, with s\endev filaments and oblong anthers. Style flat, curved. 

 Carpels numerous, in a round head, roundish, ovate, compressed, with 

 a narrow margin, sometimes hairy, crowned by the flat sword-shaped 

 style into a beak, about as long as the carpel. 



Habitat. — Wet marshy places ; not very common, most frequent in 

 the North of England and Scotland. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



6. R. Flam'mula, Linn. (Fig. 899.) Lesser Spear-wort. Leaves 

 linear lanceolate, petiolated, the lower ones ovate lanceolate, sub- 

 serrated; stem ascending, or prostrate and rooting; carpels obovate, 

 smooth, with a short terminal beak. 



English Botany, t. 387.— English Flora, vol. iii. p. 45.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 218. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 10. 



/S. reptans. Much smaller, with entire leaves, and creeping rooting 

 stem. 



R. reptans f Linn.— Lindley, Synopsis, Suppl. p. 219.—^. English 

 Flora, vol. iii. p. 45.-/5. Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 14. 



y. ovata, De Cand. (Fig. 900.) Almost all the leaves ovate, 

 petiolated. 



R. ovatus, Pers. De Cand. Prod. 1. p. 32. 



^ Root numerous long fibres. Stem from a few inches to two feet 

 high, erect, ascending, or creeping, striated, simple or branched, quite 

 smooth, or clothed with close pressed hairs. Leaves numerous, alter- 

 nate, varying from small linear lanceolate to ovate, entire or serrated on 

 the margin, mostly with a long channeled petiole, dilated at the base 



5 K 



