38 RANUNCULACE^. Ranunculus. 



leaflets. — A', orthorhi/nchus, Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 21, t. 9; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 24; Walp. 

 Rep. i. 43 (misprinted ornitlwrhjinchus) ; Gray, 1. c. viii. 373. But not R. dichotomus, M09. & 

 Sesse, of Mexico, as supposed by Sclilecht. Liuuaea, vi. 579. — Wet ground, AY. Oregon to 

 Brit. Columbia ; first coll. by Douglas. Passes into the very marked 



Var. platyph^llus, Gray, 1. c Robust, 1 to 3 (according to Kellogg even over 5) 

 feet high : leaves with limb 2 to 4 inches long, and leaflets or segments 1 to 3 inches long, 

 from oblong or rhomboidal to ovate, laciniately cleft and incised ; petals varying from a 

 quarter to three fourths inch long : beak of akenes sometimes 2 lines long. — R. macranthus, 

 Wats. Bot. Iving Exp. 9 ; Brew. «& Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 8, not Scheele. R. maximus, Greene, 

 Bull. Torr. Club, xiv. 118. — Wet soil, Wasatch Mountains, N. Utah, Watson, Jones, and 

 N. Nevada, near Pyramid Lake, Lemmon, to Marin and Mendocino Co., Calif., Kellogg, 

 Bolander,^ in the largest forms. '^ Smaller and moderately broad-leaved, N. California, 

 Greene, Mrs. Austin ; Klikitat Co., Washington, Suksdorf; mountains of Idaho, Watson? 



b. Annuals or biennials, all but one introduced from the Old World. 

 1. Akenes smooth and even, or at length with some scattered and very small papilla : 

 flowers moderately large and showy. 



R. pArvulus, L. A span to a foot high (variable in size in the manner of annuals), hirsute, 

 especially the lower part of the erect or ascending stems and petioles : radical leaves, some 

 3-parted, but most 3-foliolate, with at least middle leaflet petiolulate, all of roundish or 

 obovate and cuneate outline, and mostly cleft and incised or dentate in the way of R. repens : 

 petals much .surpassing the reflexed calyx : akenes (a line long) orbicular, flat, with a thin 

 sharp margin, tipped with a very short triangular-subulate beak, consisting of the whole 

 introrsely stigmatose style. — Mant. 79; Smith, Fl. Brit. 593. R. Sardous, Crautz, Stirp. 

 Austr. ii. 84 (ed. 2, i. 111). R. hirsntiis, Curt. Fl. Loud. ii. t. 40; Ait. Kew. ii. 268; Eng. 

 Bot. t. 1504; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. iii. t. 23. R. jMonotis, Ehrh. Beitr. ii. 145; Retz. 

 Obs. vi. 31 ; Fl. Dan. ix. t. 1459 ; probably not of Pursh. — Low ground. Savannah, Georgia, 

 Canbji ; the akenes all smooth. Near Philadelphia, but only in ballast grounds, Martindale. 

 (Sparingly nat. from Eu.) 



2. Akenes hispidulous with hooked hairs and papillose-scabrous : flowers minute. 



R. hebecarpus, Hook. & Arn. Slender, sometimes exiguous, a span to a foot high, pa- 

 niculately branched, lax-hirsute : leaves of rounded outline, small, ternately or pedately 

 parted, or some divided into petiolulate simple or laciniately cleft leaflets : peduncles short : 

 petals a line or less long, pale yellow, not surpassing the sepals : akenes few in the loose 

 heads, obliquely orliicular, flat, a line or less long, tipped with a short subulate curved beak. 

 — Bot. Beech. 316; Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. 62; Brew. & Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 8, with v&t. piisil- 

 lus, mere depauperate plants. R. parvijlorus, var., Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 25, 659. — Open 

 ground, throughout W. California to Washington. (Lower Calif.) 

 3. Akenes muriculate or echinate. 



R. PARViFLORUS, L. ViUous or hirsute, slender and low, diffuse ; radical leaves orbicular in 

 outline, 3-5-parted or divided and the cuneate segments laciniate-lobed : inflorescence and 

 flowers nearly of the preceding : akenes rougher papillose-scabrous, not hairy, tipped with 

 very short beak. — Spec. ed. 2, i. 780; Eng. Bot. t. 120; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. iii. t. 22; 

 Torr. & Gray, 1. c, excl. var. R. trachyspermus. Ell. Sk. ii. 65. — Waste grounds near towns, 

 &c., Maryland to Florida, Texas, and Arkansas. (Nat. from Eu. ) 



R. muricAtus, L. Glabrous or sparsely pubescent, rather stout and succulent, span to a foot 

 or so high : leaves mostly round-cordate or reniform, 3-5-cleft and coarsely crenate-dentate : 

 petals deep yellow, a quarter inch long, surpassing the calyx : akenes quarter inch long 

 besides the stout subulate curved beak, which is confluent with the strong and salient mar- 

 gins, the flat faces conspicuously tuberculate or echinate. — Spec. i. 555 ; Michx. Fl. i. 321 ; 

 Lam. 111. t. 498; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 24. — Wet soil near towns, Virginia to S. Carolina, 

 Louisiana, and California near San Francisco to S. Oregon. (Nat. from Eu.) 

 R. ARVENSis, L. of Europe, with linear-lobed leaves and coarse echinate akenes, has been 



detected in ballast grounds.* 



1 Sonoma Co., Calif., Congdon. 



2 Similar robust forms have been recently collected in Humboldt Co., Calif., Blankinship. 



3 And in S. Brit. Columbia, Macoun. 



4 This species, according to Britton (Bull. Torr. Club, xix, 219), is spreading in New Jersey. 



