202 RANUNCULACEAE (BUTTERCUP FAMILY) 



few, often only 1, on short stout petioles, cuneate-obovate to flabelliform, 

 deeply about 7-lobed or divided; upper cauline sessile, cleft to the middle or 

 below into broadly linear lobes: corolla 25-30 mm. broad, circular by the 

 overlapping of the several obovate or almost obcordate petals: achenes ovoid, 

 in an ovoid head. Near snow banks; in the mountains of Northern Wyoming 

 and Montana; probably in Idaho also. 



18. Ranunculus eremogenes Greene, Erythea 4: 121. 1896. Annual, eroct, 

 2-5 dm. high, stout and fistulous, sparingly leafy, simple below, loosely 

 corymbose-paniculate above, glabrous, the herbage light green: leaves of 

 rounded general outline, mostly 5-parted and the segments cleft into about 

 3 lobes, these toothed: flowers 8-10 mm. broad; light yellow petals surpassing 

 the sepals: head of numerous achenes obtusely ovoid-oblong, the oblong- 

 ovoid receptacle much inflated; achenes nearly beakless. R. sceleratus. 

 Margins of pools and springy bogs; plains and valleys of our range, and west- 

 ward. 



19. Ranunculus Douglasii Howell, Fl. N. W. Am. 18. 1897. More or less 

 pubescent or hirsute, 3-6 dm. high: leaves thin, deeply 3-5-cleft; the segments 

 oblanceolate to obovate-cuneate, sharply and irregularly few-toothed: petals 

 spatulate, small, only 2-4 mm. long: receptacle glabrous: achenes glabrous, 

 tipped with a short stout hooked beak. From Colorado northward (in the 

 mountains) and west to Oregon and Washington. 



20. Ranunculus acriformis Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 21: 374. 1886. Pu- 

 bescence hirsute, more or less appressed: stems strict and slender, 2-5 dm. 

 high: leaves palmately or pedately 3-5-parted into narrow segments which 

 are again 2-3-cleft into lance-linear lobes: flowers several to many: petals 

 orbicular-obovate, 6-8 mm. long, much exceeding the sepals: achenes glabrous, 

 with a curved beak half as long as the body. (R. Earlei Greene, Pitt. 4: 15. 

 1900.) Abundant; moist bottom lands, on the high plains; Colorado into 

 British America. 



21. Ranunculus montanensis Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 166. 1900. 

 In habit and foliage much like the preceding, but stouter and silky with more 

 spreading hairs: flowers few, large, 20-25 mm. broad: achenes in, a globose 

 head, glabrous; the beak long and strongly hooked. From northern Wyom- 

 ing into Idaho and Montana. 



22. Ranunculus pennsylvanicus L. f. Suppl. 272. 1781. Hirsute with 

 rough spreading bristly hairs: stem stout, erect: divisions of the leaves stalked, 

 somewhat ovate, unequally 3-cleft, sharply cut and toothed, acute: petals 

 pale, not exceeding the sepals: achenes in ovate heads, glabrous, pointed with 

 a sharp beak one third their length. Within the northeastern part of our 

 range and then eastward to the Atlantic. 



23. Ranunculus Macounii Brit. Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 12: 3. 1892. 

 Stout and often diffusely branching from the base, rather rough-hirsute 

 throughout: leaves large, 3-divided; the divisions broadly oblong, acute, 

 cuneate, variously cleft and lobed: flowers 10-12 mm. broad: petals surpass- 

 ing the spreading or reflexed sepals: achenes with a, sharp beak one fourth 

 their length. Wet soil in the valleys; from the Missouri River to the Pacific. 



24. Ranunculus maximus Greene Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 14: 118. 1887. 

 More or less hirsute with spreading hairs, rather stout, 3-6 dm. high: leaves 

 large, 5-10 cm. long, about 5-cleft or divided into oblong or rhomboidal-ovate 

 segments which are laciniately clef t and incised: petals 5-10 mm. long: achenes 

 ovate, strongly margined, tipped with a rigid straight subulate beak as long 

 as the rather large body. R. orthorhynchus. (R. orthophillus A. Nels. Bot. 

 Gaz. 42: 52. 1906.) In wet places; northern Wyoming and far westward and 

 northward. 



13. HALERPESTES Greene. TRAILING BUTTERCUP 



Perennial by long jointed flagellifonn stolons which ultimately strike root 

 and produce a new plant at each node. Petals yellow, with a scale at the base 

 as in Ranunculus, deciduous with the sepals. Stamens and carpels numerous. 



