Buttercups and Columbines 65 
stigmas are mature, and, though capable of self- 
fertilisation, largely crossed by many kinds of insects, 
chiefly beetles and flies of brilliant colours, who are 
attracted by the shining golden hue of the flowers. 
The Bulbous Buttercup (R. bulbosus) is also erect- 
stemmed, but not so tall, the base or 
rootstock swollen into a corm like 
that of the Crocus but larger; the 
leaves are less jagged, more dis- 
tinctly divided into three parts, the 
flower-stalk is grooved, the sepals 
bend right back and press against 
the stalk, whilst the petals remain 
erect so that the flower assumes a 
true cup-shape. The Creeping But- 
tercup (R. repens) is somewhat erect, 
but its lower portion leans on the 
ground and sends off runners, the 
leaves are divided into three wedge- 
shaped and toothed segments, the 
flower-stalk is grooved, the sepals iy 
spread widely, and the petals are  Bulbous Buttercup 
half-erect. 
Then there are the Greater and Lesser Spearworts 
(kh. lingua and R. flammula), which grow in marshy 
places, and whose leaves are undivided, long, and 
narrow,—a form common in marshes, ditches, and 
the borders of ponds; the woodland Goldielocks (R. 
auricomus), with roundish three-lobed leaves, lacking 
the acridity of its relations, and with yellowish sepals 
to the somewhat irregular flowers; the Water Crow- 
foot (R. aquatilis), with submerged leaves reduced 
to mere: thread-like dimensions, whilst the floating 
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