RANDOM NOTE 3 ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



61 



Buttercups. 



Few persons realize how man_v ditferent 

 kinds of hiitterciips we have here in Rhode 

 Island. The bulbous species, which is nat- 

 uralized from Europe, and mostly restricted 

 to our Eastern sea-board, is the first to ap- 

 pear. It fi^lls one with joj', as does the first 

 dandelion. Its bright ^-ellow cup, polished 

 and shining, is well beloved of children. 

 They gather large handfuls of buttercups 

 to test their own appreciation of butter. 

 Ere the bulbous species has entirely disap- 

 peai'ed from our lawns and meadows, conies 

 the later RanHnculas acris, very handsome 

 in leaf and flower, but in neither so showy, 

 in our opinion, as is the creeping buttercup, 

 found in wet places. The early crowfoot, 

 Baiiuncidns fascicularis, is verj^ local with 

 us. We have found it but once, in East 

 Providence. The bright yellow flower is 

 an inch broad, and the plant is known at 

 once by its cluster of thick, fleshy roots. 



Besides these species, we have the two 

 curious aquatic species, one with white 

 flowers {R. aquatilis), and the yellow-flow- 

 ered R. muUiJi/ns. The last, which is 

 smooth when growing in water, becomes 

 hairy in its occasional terrestrial forms. It 

 is, when in water, isolated from insect 

 molestation, but, when the water is re- 

 moved, requires to protect itself by pubes- 

 cence. One of the noticeable things about 

 the white water-crowfoot, is its frequent de- 

 velopment of two sorts of leaves. Of 

 these, the immersed kind consists of long, 

 capillary divisions, while the floating ones 

 are round, flat, and lobed. Again, we 

 have the larger and smaller spear-worts, 

 though these are local in their distribution. 

 The seaside species, R. cymbalaria, is 

 more commonly seen. It is found also 

 near salt springs or lakes, as in New York 

 State, in Nevada, and in Utah. Two very 

 small-flowered species of buttercup we now 

 find in blossom in damp woods. These are 

 the species abortinis and recurvlius of bot- 

 anists. To us they possess beauties, per- 

 haps not obvious to those who fail to per- 

 ceive that a weed is "but a flower in dis- 

 guise." 



It will be seen from this list that we are 

 well provided with buttercups. Undoubt- 

 edl3' many of them are unmitigated weeds, 

 to be warred upon alvva3's and everywhere. 



But we must be pardoned for thinking that 

 without an}' buttercups one would be less 

 rich. Their gold is cheap, it is true, but it 

 is sterling. We could better spare some 

 more pretentious flowers. 

 ^ :^:' W. W. Bailey. 



June 5, 1885. 



Mr. S. SchoUfield, of Providence, has 

 brought to our notice a rose in full bloom. 

 From its centre among the stamens had 

 grown out a new stem, terminating in a per- 

 fect and quite well developed bud. We re- 

 ferred the specimen to Professor W. W. 

 Baile\-, of Brown Universit}', and he has 

 favored us with the following article : 



My Dear Sir : The rose j'ou send me 

 illustrates what is known as prolification of 

 the flower. It is interesting as bearing 

 upon the theoiy of metamorphosis as made 

 known nearly simultaneous!}' bj' Wolff and 

 Goethe. It is in effect a flower reverting 

 to a leafy branch. Often the change, 

 especially in roses, is complete, the petals 

 changing into green leaves. We under- 

 stand a flower to be a branch metamor- 

 phosed or changed, or perhaps it is better 

 to sa}', specially developed, for the accom- 

 plishment of reproduction. Upon this branch 

 the leaves are modified into petals, stamen, 

 and pistils, a higher grade of organs than 

 foliage-leaves. But unusual circumstances, 

 such as excess of moisture, may induce a 

 branch which had begun to develop into a 

 flower, to revert to the lower function of 

 leaf-producing. This is what has happened 

 here. 



Mr. Geo. H. Ragsdale, Gainsville, Texas, 

 sends us a double nest, about which he writes 

 as follows : " The two nests sent last week 

 in the bunch of mistletoe I take to be those 

 of the Orchard Oriole and Lark Finch, the 

 latter built in and on the former, probabh' 

 after the Orioles had vacated. The nests 

 were placed in a Black Jack tree thirty 

 feet high." 



A MAGAZiN'E writer asks : " How shall we 

 utilize the Indians?" This is a difficult 

 question to answer, but |)3rhaps th3 best 

 plan would be to petrify them aud sell them 

 for cigar-store signs. Tiiis idea is worthy 

 of consideration. 



