130 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN. 



§§§ Beak of the achene long and slender. 



(a) Roots fibrous. 



Ranunculus septentrionaeis Poir. Lam. EncycL, 

 vol. 6, p. 125. 1804. 



Low, 6-20 inches high, pubescent, erect or in wet places 

 mostly procumbent and forming runners; roots many, fib- 

 rous; leaves petioled, 3-divided; the divisions usually all 

 stalked, 3-cleft or 3-divided, the segments toothed or cut; 

 achenes margined, tipped by a sword-shaped style of about 

 their length. 



A common species, found in moist soil in all parts of the 

 state, blooming in April and May. This species is consid- 

 ered one of our common weeds, though with us it is a harm- 

 less one, having no obnoxious spines or fruit and occupies 

 ground for the most part in neglect or unfit for cultivation, 

 spreads slowly and easily succumbs to proper cultivation. 



Our specimens are from Muscatine, Johnson, Decatur, 

 Shelby, and Emmet counties. We have observed the 

 species in Winneshiek county. Additional specimens in the 

 State University herbarium are from Henry, Lee, Mahaska, 

 Calhoun, and Pottawattamie counties. Prof. Hitchcock 

 reports it from Story county; Prof. Pammel from Cherokee 

 county; Prof. Fink from Fayette county; and Messrs. 

 Barnes, Reppert and Miller from Scott county. The early 

 articles on the Iowa Flora do not include this species. It 

 was formerly included with Ranunculus rcpens L. 



Hitchcock, Trans. St. Louis Acad, of Sciences, vol. 5. p. 483. Pammel, 

 Proc. Iowa Acad, of Sciences, vol. 3, p. Ill; Fink, Proc. Iowa Acad, of 

 Sciences, vol. 4, p. 83; Fitzpatrick, Proc. Iowa Acad, of Sciences, vol. 5, 

 pp. 108 and 135; Manual of the Flowering Plants of Iowa, p. 4; Shimek, 

 Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. I., vol. 4, p. 200; Barnes, Reppert and Mil- 

 ler, Proc. Davenport Acad, of Nat. Sciences, vol. 8,201; Rigg, Notes on 

 the Flora of Calhoun county, p. 10. 



(b) Roots thickened. 

 Ranunculus fascicuearis Muhl. Cat. 54. 1813. 

 Plant pubescent, low, 3-10 inches high, fibrous roots 



