8 RANUNCULACE^. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



ions ; or sometimes rooting in the mud, with the emersed leaves kidney-shaped 

 or round and variously lobed or cleft; petals 5-8, much larger than the calyx . 

 carpels in a spherical head, pointed with a straight beak. (R. niultifidus, Pursh, 

 Biyel. R. lacustris, Beck. ) — Stagnant water ; most common northward. May - 

 July. — Stems 2° -4° long, round and tubular. Petals bright yellow, mostly as 

 large as in the common Buttercup. 



h_ h_ Terrestrial : perennial, except Nos. 6 and 9, which are at least sometimes 



annual. 

 *+ Leaves all undivided : plants glabrous. 



3. R. alismaefdlius, Geyer, Benth. (Water-Plantain Spear- 

 woet.) Stems hollow, ascending, often rooting from the lower joints; leaves 

 lanceolate, mostly denticulate, the lowest oblong, all contracted into a margined 

 petiole with a membranaceous dilated and half-sheathing base; petals 5-7, 

 much longer than the calyx, bright yellow ; carjxls flattened, pointed icith a long 

 and straight subulate sharp beak, collected in a globular head. (R. Fl.ommula & 

 R. Lingua, Amer. authors.) — Wet or inundated places; common northward. 

 June -Aug. Stems l°-2° high. Leaves 3' -5' long. Flower 5" -6", in Ore- 

 gon and California 7" -9", broad. Carpels much larger than in the next. 



4. R. FMinmiila, L. (Speaewoet.) Stem reclining or ascending, 

 rooting below ; leaves lanceolate or linear, or the lowest oblong-lanceolate, en- 

 tire or nearly so, mostly petioled ; petals 5-7, much longer than the calyx, 

 bright yellow ; caipels turgid, mucronate with a very short and usually curved blunt 

 point, forming a small globular head. — Shore of L. Ontario (a small form) ; 

 thence northward. June -Aug. Corolla 4" -6" broad. (Eu.) 



Var. B'eptans. (Creeping Speaewoet.) Much smaller and slenderer : 

 the filiform prostrate stems rooting at all the joints. (R. reptans, L. R. fili 

 fonnis, Michx. ) — Gravelly or sandy banks of streams, &c. New England and 

 Penn. to Wisconsin, northward. Stems 4' - 6' long. (Eu.) 



5. R. piisiilus, Poir. Stem slender, ascending ; root-leaves ovate or round- 

 ish, obtuse, entire, often rather heart-shaped, on long petioles ; the lower stem- 

 leaves similar ; the uppermost becoming linear-lanceolate, obscurely toothed, 

 scarcely petioled ; petals 1-5, commonly 3, about as long as the calyx, yellowish ; 

 stamens few (5- 10) ; carpels slightly pointed or blunt, in a globular head. — Wet 

 places, S. New York, New Jersey, and southward near the coast. July. — 

 Stems 5' -12' high. 



6. R. Cymbalaria, Pursh. (Sea-side Ceowfoot.) Stem sending 

 off long runners from the base which are rooting and leafy at the joints ; leaves 

 all roundish, mostly heart-shaped at the base, coarsely crenate-toothed, rather fleshy, 

 on long petioles ; flower-stalks (scapes) leafless, 1 - 7-fiowercd ; petals 5-8, bright 

 yellow ; carpels in oblong heads, very numerous, short-beaked, striate-veined on the 

 sides. — Sea-shore, Maine to New Jersey. Salt springs, Salina, New York, to 

 Illinois and westward. June-Aug. — Scapes 3-6' high. 



++ ++ Root-leaves undivided, often cleft, but not to the base. 



7. R. rhoniboideus, Goldie. Dwarf hairy; root-leave-; roundish, or 

 rhombic-ovate, rarely subcordate, toothed or crenate ; lowest stem-leaves similai 

 or 3 - 5-lobed ; the upper 3 - 5-parted, almost sessile, the lobes linear ; carpels 



