364 



Ranunculus sulphureus Sol. 



Syn. R. altairus Laxni. 



Lit. Hartz, (И), 1895, p. 288; (III), 1895, p. 332. Norman, 

 1895, p. 17. Ekstam, 1897, p. 147; 1899, p. 23. Abromeit, 

 1899, p. 31. Th. Resvoll, 1900, fig. 3. Andersson & Hesselman, 

 1901, p. 19. Dosen, 1901, p. 30. Simmons, 1906, p. 108; 1909, 

 p. 74. 



Alcohol material from Greenland (Scoresby Sound, 18. 7. 

 1892); Norway (Lyngen, 7.8.1884); Spitzbergen (Hornesund, 

 25.6.1882, Belsund, 1.7.1882, Rendalen in Sassenbay, 15.7. 

 1882, Tampetberg, 17.7.1882, King Charles Land, 4.8.1898, 

 Advent Bay, 8.8. 1910); Nova Zembla. 



Malmgren (Spetsb. Fan. Fl. К. Sv. Vet. Akad. Oversigt, 

 1862) writes that R. altaicus has longer styles than R. sul- 

 phureus and that its nectary-leaves are obcordate (quoted in 

 Simmons, 1906, p. 108). Simmons finds no reason to consider 

 these two as distinct species, as the characters mentioned are 

 not constant; he will go no further than to call R. altaicus 

 a variety of R. sulphureus. One of the individuals in the 

 material from Scoresby Sound had nectary- leaves some of which 

 were slightly emarginate at the apex and the others rounded. 

 As far as I have been able to see, there is no difference in 

 the anatomy of the two forms. 



The rhizome is either slanting or vertical and may live 

 several years. The longest which I measured had a length 

 of about 3 cm. The adventitious roots arise especially from 

 the nodes (Fig. 17). Rhizomes are often found with rather 

 numerous ascending branches. Each such branch bears a 

 rosette consisting only of foliage- leaves, in number rarely ex- 

 ceeding five; very often there is but one or two. In flowering 

 specimens the rhizome is continued into a stem with elongated 

 internodes which bears as many as four foliage-leaves; the 

 lowermost of these is stalked, the upper are sessile. The 

 arrangement of the leaves is ^/s, with the exception of the first 



