540 



RANUNCULACEAE 



Tax. Note. In the best natural type of the species the x beak, whether straight or curving, 

 is disposed to project forward and stand saliently above the ventral angle of the achene, rather 

 than to recurve over the body of the aehene. Plants from Siskiyou Co. and southerly to 

 Mendocino Co. and Placer Co. are referred to the species, being the nearest typical of any- 

 thing found in California: Sherwood Valley, Davy 5124: Eureka, Tracy 826; Van Duzen 

 Eiver valley opp. Buck Mt., Tracy 2689; Placer Co., Carpenter. 



Var. eisenil Gray. Stems slender, erect, 1 to l 1 /^ feet high; stems and leaves pilose with 

 spreading hairs or only the leaves pilose, or the herbage subglabrous; leaves lobed as in the 

 species; flowers 5 to 8 lines broad; petals commonly 5, sometimes 6, rarely 7; beak of the 

 achenes slender, curving, rarely closely recurved. This is the most widely spread representative 

 of the species in California. It prevails in the Sierra Nevada foothills up to 2500 or 4500 feet 

 and is the common buttercup of openly wooded ridges, flats and valleys. It continues around 

 the foothills of the upper Sacramento Valley and occurs in the inner and middle Coast Ranges, 

 at least as far south as Santa Clara Co. It has commonly a more slender and less strongly 

 recurving beak than in typical B. californicus, but this kind of a beak may often be found 

 in that species. For example, the aehenes in specimens of var. eisenii from Los Gatos (Heller 

 7343) match those of E. californicus (of typical habit and multi-petaled) from Mt. Hamilton 

 (Jepson 4235). Conversely, the usual form of achene of R. californicus may sometimes occur 

 in var. eisenii, as in specimens from Hetch-Hetchy (Jepson 3447). All of which goes to 

 show the weakness of the achene (and especially the beak) character in this section. 



Var. rattanii Gray. Stems slender, 1 to 2 feet high; pubescence as in var. eisenii; petals 

 5 or 6; achenes hispidulose, the beak slender, nearly erect or projecting forward a little, or 

 recurved. Mendocino and Humboldt cos. ; north to southern Oregon. Ranges south into Napa 

 Co. in a modified form. 



Loca. Ukiah, Purdy; Ft. Seward Ranch ridge, Jepson 1895; Alder Pt., Tracy 1908; Eureka, 

 Tracy 1107^. Grants Pass, Ore., Howell (beak slender, nearly as long as the achene). 



Series of specimens from the Napa Range (hills east of St. Helena, Jepson) show achenes 

 with very variable beaks, sometimes looking towards typical var. rattanii, sometimes exactly 

 typical of R. ealifornicus. The plants grow in closest association with R. oecidentalis var. 

 eisenii. Indeed, the two are often collected with roots intertwined and distributed by collectors 

 in the same sheet as if one, which, indeed, they are in nearly all features except the hispidulose 

 achenes. Hispidulose achenes, it may be added, are likely to break out anywhere in the R. 

 calif ornicus-canus-occidentalis series. 



Locs. Sierra Nevada: Limekiln Creek, Tulare Co., Jepson 2794; Hetch-Hetchy, Jepson 

 3447; Bear Valley, Nevada Co., Jepson; Hat Creek, e. Shasta Co., Hall $ Babcock 4263. 

 Coast Ranges: Shackelford Canon, w. Siskiyou Co., Jepson 2814; Calistoga, Jepson; hills east 

 of St. Helena, Jepson; Santa Cruz Mts. 



Var. alceus Jepson n. comb. Plants diffuse, 6 to 9 (or 15) inches high; stems and petioles 

 very pilose below; flowers small; achenes as in var. eisenii. Higher altitudes in the north 

 Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada, (3000 or) 5000 to 7500 feet; a late flowering rather small 

 plant about intermediate between the species and var. eisenii. 



Locs. North Coast Ranges: Elk Mt., Jepson; Snow Mt., T. Srandegee; Knoxville Ridge, 

 ne. Napa Co., Jepson 9044. The following Sierra Nevada specimens are essentially alike and 

 almost if not quite identic with the typical inner North Coast Range plants, the only difference 

 residing in the elongated entire upper leaves or broad leaf divisions of the former : Belle Mdw., 

 Tuolumne Co., Jepson 6487; Deadman Creek, Tuolumne Co., Jepson 6551; Silver Lake, Hanxi-it : 

 Deer Park, Fox; Warner Valley, Plumas Co., Jepson 4068. 



Refs. RANUNCULUS OCCIDENTALS Nutt. ; T. & G. Fl. 1:22 (1838), type loc. Columbia River 

 plains, Nuttall. Var. EISENII Gray, Proe. Am. Acad. 21:373 (1886), type loc. middle Sierra 

 Nevada. Apparently also B. eisenii Kell. Proc. Cal. Acad. 7:115 (1876), indefinitely described 

 and the type and type locality not indicated. B. longiloljus Heller, Muhl. 2:36 (1905), type loc. 

 Middle Creek Sta., near Keswick, Heller 7912, is an intergrade from R. oecidentalis but nearer 

 var. eisenii. Var. RATTANII Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 21:373 (1886), type loc. Klamath River, 

 Battan; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 201 (1901). Var. ALCEUS Jepson. B. aloeus Greene, Erythea, 

 3:69 (1895), type loc. Elk Mt., Lake Co., Jepson. 



R. RUGULOSUS Greene, Pitt. 2:58 (1890), type loc. Chowchilla Mts., -F. P. McLean, stems 

 decumbent; achenes rarely 1 line long, the sides rugose (ex char.). Perhaps nearest R. oeci- 

 dentalis var. eisenii. 



14. R. repens L. CREEPING CROWFOOT. (Fig. 107.) Perennial ; stems trail- 

 ing, arising from a cluster of stout fibrous roots, y 2 to 1 foot long, rooting at the 

 lower nodes; herbage sparsely bristly, often densely so on the petioles; leaves 

 1 to 4 inches broad, the basal long-petioled, composed of 3 distinct or nearly 

 distinct leaflets; leaflets incisely 3-parted and again incisely cleft or toothed; 



