Ranunculus. 



RANUNCULACE^. 21 



reduction to one species aud the admission of 35, probably the better choice is to 

 admit the following along with R. fiuitans, Lam., aud thus preserve the earliest 

 names. 



* Styles subulate, not longer than the ovary, introrsely stigmatose for part or all of their 



length : petals deciduous. 

 H— Carpel-receptacle more or less hairy: submersed capillary-multifid foliage always 

 present, oftener no other in American plants: petals several-nerved. — R. aquatilis, L. 



R. circinatus, Sibth. Wholly submersed and destitute of emersed foliage : leaves sessile 

 (down to the very short stipular-dilated base) and dissected into rigid lobes, all spreading in 

 one plane (at right angles to stem) in an orbicular outline of about an inch in diameter, not 

 at all collapsing when drawn out of water : style as long as the ovary, stigmatose above, not 

 rarely persisting as a subulate beak. — Fl. Oxon. 175 ; Eng. Bot. Suppl. iv. t. 2869 ; Keicheub. 

 Ic. ¥\. Germ. iii. t. 2 ; Fl. Dan. t. 2236. R. aquatilis, /8, L. Spec. i. 556, in part ; Schk. 

 Handb. t. 152. R. stagnatalis, Wallr. Sched. Crit. 285. R. rigidus, Eoth. En. PI. Phaenog. 

 Germ. i. sec. 2, 6.33. R. divaricatus, Koch in Sturm, Deutsch. Fl. xvi. Heft 67, &c. (not, 

 it is said, of Schrank, nor of Moench) ; Godron, Ess. 27, f. 7 , Gray, Man. ed. 5, 40, & PI. 

 Wright, ii. 8. R. aquatilis, var. divaricatus. Gray, Man. ed. 2, 7. R. longiroslris, Godron, 

 1. c. 32, f. 9. R. aquatilis, var. longirostris, Lawson, 1. c. 43. Batrackium clrcinatum, Spach, 

 Hist. Veg. vii. 201 ; Fries, Herb. Norm. 1842, &c.i — In still water, Canada and Hudson Bay 

 to Brit. Columbia, and W. Texas, but mainly northeastward. (Eu.) 



R. aquatilis, L. Leaves petioled ; the emersed ones present in the type, reniform or orbicu- 

 lar, 3-5-lobed or sometimes parted and the divisions 2-3-cleft : submersed ones dissected 

 into either tiliform or capillary divisions, which are widely spreading, usually of rather firm 

 texture, or else flaccid so as to collapse when drawn out of water : style short. — Spec, i, 

 556, &c. The typical form is var. heterophyllus, DC. Prodr. i. 26 [R. aquatilis, DC. 

 Syst. i. 234, R. heterophijllus, Weber, Fries, &c.) ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 10; Gray, Man. ed. 

 5^ 40;i — Growing in shallow waters, in this country only from Alaska and the adjacent 

 islands (where taken by Schlechtendal for R. hederaceus) to Oregon and California. (Eu., 

 Asia.) 



Var. trichoph^^llus, Gray, 1. c. All the leaves dissected : the most available 

 name for the collective forms (/?. pantothrix, Brot. in DC. Syst. i. 235); but used in 

 restricted sense for those with rather short and slightly rigid leaves, which do not collapse 

 on withdrawal from the water. — R. tvichophjllus, Chaix in Vill. Fl. Dauph. i. 335, & R. 

 divaricatus, Schrauk, Baiersche Fl. ii. 104, /</e Hiern.^ Var. brAchypds, Hook. & Arn. Bot. 

 Beech. 316, with peduncle shorter than the leaf, is the commoner form of this in California.* 

 Var. c^spiTOSUS, DC. Prodr. i. 26, is a dwarf and condensed form, becoming terrestrial ; 

 the leaves becoming somewhat fleshy or rigid. Var. coNFERVofDES {R. confervoides. Fries, 

 Sum. Veg. Scand. i. 139) is a dwarf form with capillary flabby leaves, found only north- 

 ward. Var. flAccidus (R. flaccidus, Pers. in Usteri, Ann. Bot. v. pt. 14, 39), with soft 

 capillary dissected leaves, collapsing on withdrawal from the water : New England, New 

 York, &c., commonly a large form, in rather deep water, with longer or less numerous leaf- 

 divisions : answering to R. aquatilis, var. suhmersus, Godron in Gren. & Godr. Fl. Fr. i. 23, 



1 Add syn. Batrachium divnricatum, Britten, Mem. Terr. Club, v. 160, not Wimm, (which being 

 R. divaricatus, Schrank, was, ace. to Hiern, a form of tlie plant here called Ranunculus aquatilis, var. 

 trichnphyllus). 



2 Add syn. R. Graynnus, Freyn, Deutsche Bot. Monatsschr. viii. 179, and R. aquatilis, var. his- 

 pidulus. Drew, Bull. Ton-. Club, .\vi. 150. The hispid character of tlie lower surface of the emersed 

 leaves is a very general one botli in European and American specimens, aud is iu no wise restricted to 

 plants with tritiil leaves. 



3 Add syn, Batrachium trichophyllum, Bosch, Prodr. Fl. Bat. 5. 



* R. Porteri, Britten (Bull. Torr. Club, xvii. 310), known from imperfect specimens, appears to be 

 but a form of the .same polyniorplious species. Its akenes are three fourths line in diameter and its 

 leaves are dissected, some into narrowly linear, others into filiform segments. If a form of this species 

 it may also be placed between vars. caspitosics and trichophyllus. 



