458 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Fig. 232. Cursed Crowfoot (Ranunculus 

 sceleratus). Conimon in low grounds. Con- 

 tains an acrid poison. (Ada Hayden.) 



wedge-shaped, 3-cleft or parted; flowers yellow, petals obovate and larger than 

 the sepals; stamens numerous; pistils numerous; style long and attenuate; 

 fruit an achene. 



Distribution. Common in moist shady places in the northern states. 



Ranunculus acris L,. Tall Crowfoot 



Hairy, perennial, with fibrous roots, from 2-3 feet high; basal leaves tufted 

 3-7 divided, divisions cleft in narrow acute lobes; upper leaves short petioled, 

 3-parted; petals much longer than the spreading calyx; head when in fruit 

 globose. 



Distribution. Native to Europe, widely naturalized in the Northern States 

 and Canada. 



Poisonous nature. Juice acrid, poison dissipated on drying. Symptoms pro- 

 duced in animals are blistering, slavering, choking, vomiting, in some cases, 

 followed by death resembling that from apoplexy. 



Ranunculus abortivus L. Small Flowered Crowfoot 





Smooth, branching biennial from 6 inches to 2 feet high; root leaves 

 round, heart-shaped or kidney shaped, crenate, or lobed; stem leaves sessile 



