^94 RANUNCtTLUS. fCLASS XIIl. ORDER 111. 



and cut, the radical ones on long slender petioles, dilated at the base, 

 the upper sessile ; stem erect, bulbous at the base ; peduncles fur- 

 rowed ; calyx reflexed ; carpels numerous, in a round head, lenticular, 

 compressed, smooth. 



English Botany, t. 515. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 50.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 219.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 11. 



Root of long branched libres, from a fleshy bulb. Stems mostly two 

 or more, branched above, hairy, from one to two feet high, erect. 

 Leaves numerous, hairy the radical ones, one long, slender, round, 

 petioles dilated and sheathing at the base, of three leaflets, the lateral 

 ones on short partial footstalks, the middle one with a long one, the 

 leaflets three-partite, and cut into linear lobes, or three- cleft into broad 

 toothed lobes, the floral ones sessile, and cut into linear entire or 

 toothed lobes, obtusely pointed. Flowers rather large, a bright golden 

 yellow, on slender hairy furrowed peduncles. Calyx reflexed, hairy, 

 ovate lanceolate, with a membranous margin. Stamens numerous, 

 with short filaments^ and oblong yellow anthers. Petals roundish, 

 wedge-shaped, with a short claw and broad nectariferous scale. 

 Carpels numerous, in a round head, smooth, lenticular, compressed, 

 with a slight margin and short beak. 



Habitat. — Meadows and pastures ; frequent. 



Flowering in May and June. 



This species is perhaps the most common of our Ranunculuses, and 

 is as pungent in its taste and as stimulating in its properties as the last 

 species, and seems to be refused as food by most cattle. It is, how- 

 ever, no doubt a very useful stimulating plant when mixed with others, 

 and as it is less deleterious in its properties when dried and made into 

 hay, it becomes a useful and valuable component amongst other 

 plants wanting this stimulating property. It has been used for the 

 same purposes, as R. Acris, but like it is now out of use medicinally. 

 It has many common names, as butter flower and butter cups, from the 

 belief that the yellow flowers give the colour to butter ; king-cups, 

 gold -cups, and it appears to be the cuckoo flower of Shakespear, in 



King Lear, 



" Nettles, cuckoo-flowers, 

 Darnel and all the wild weeds." 

 Clare, the Northamptonshire poet, in his " Eternity of Nature," thus 

 alludes to its ungrateful properties — 



" I wander out and rhyme ; 

 What hour the dewy morning's infancy 

 Hangs on each blade of grass and every tree, 

 And sprents the red thighs of the humble bee, 

 Who 'gins betimes unwearied minstrelsy; 

 Who breakfasts, dines, and most divinely sups 

 With eTery flower save golden butter-cups, — 

 On whose proud bosoms he will never go, 

 But passes by with scarcely * How do ye do.' 

 Since in their showy, shining, gaudy cells, 

 Haply the summer's honey never dwells." 



