RANUNCULACEAE (BUTTERCUP FAMILY) 203 



Head of fruit oblong-cylindric. Achenes thin- walled and utricular, compressed, 

 the sides striate. Ranunculus in part; Oxygraphis Prantl. 



1. Halerpestes cymbalaria (Pursh) Greene, Pitt. 4: 208. 1900. Low, 

 glabrous perennial with numerous thick fibrous roots: leaves broadly ovate 

 or ovate-cordate, coarsely crenate, clustered at the base of the scapes and at 

 the nodes of the stolons: scapes 5-10 cm. high, 1-7-flowered : petals narrowly 

 oblong or spatulate, exceeding the sepals: achenes apiculate, small and very 

 numerous. Ranunculus cymbalaria. Moist banks, especially in saline situa- 

 tions; in the Rocky Mountains and on northern seacoasts. 



14. CYRTORHYNCHA Nutt. NUTTALL'S BUTTERCUP 



Perennial, with thick fibrous roots and long-petioled ternately compound 

 leaves. Sepals membranous, deciduous with the pale yellow petals. Sta- 

 mens about 20. Pistils few, becoming somewhat utricular laterally flattened 

 nerved achenes. Ranunculus in part. 



1. Cyrtorhyncha ranunculina Nutt. T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 26. 1838. Smooth, 

 7-15 cm. high: radical leaves biternately divided, segments 3-5-parted, lobes 

 oblong or linear, sometimes 2-3-cleft: petals spatulate, a little longer than 

 the broader sepals which are also yellow: achenes rather few, in a globose 

 head, cylindrical-oblong, grooved, many-nerved, tipped with a long slender, 

 incurved style. Colorado and Wyoming, along the eastern foothills. 



2. Cyrtorhyncha neglecta Greene, Pitt. 4: 146. 1900. Similar but taller: 

 flowers few; petals wanting: stamens about 10: achenes ovate. Rare; cafions 

 near Golden, Colorado. 



15. THALICTRUM. MEADOW RUE 



Erect perennial herbs with radical and cauline leaves ternately decompound. 

 Flowers perfect, polygamous or dioecious, generally small, greenish-white, in 

 panicles or racemes. Sepals 4 or 5, petals none. Pistils few or several, be- 

 coming ribbed or nerved achenes, sessile or short-stipulate. Stamens indefi- 

 nite, exserted. 



Blowers hermaphrodite (perfect). 



Stem scapose; achenes oblong, few 1. T. alpinum. 



Stem leafy; achenes ventrally gibbous, half rhombic, numerous . 2. T. sparsiflorum. 

 lowers dioecious or polygamo-dioecious. 

 Achenes flattened, 2-edged. 



Ovate or ovate-oblong, one edge more gibbous than the other . 3. T. Fendleri. 



Lanceolate, acuminate, the two edges nearly alike . . . 4. T. occidentale. 

 Achenes terete or but slightly flattened. 



Flowers dioecious; leaves glabrous and glaucous . . . . 5. T. venulosum. 



Flowers polygamous; leaves obscurely glandular or waxy . . 6. T. dasycarpum. 



1. Thalictrum alpinum L. Sp. PI. 545. 1753. Stem simple, .scape-like, 

 5-20 cm. high, slightly pubescent: leaves mostly radical; leaflets roundish, 

 8-12 mm. long, somewhat lobed and crenately toothed: flowers perfect, in a 

 simple raceme, nodding: stigma thick and pubescent: achenes ovate, sessile. 

 Infrequent, in the mountains; Colorado and far northward; also in Europe 

 and Asia. 



2. Thalictrum sparsiflorum Turcz. in Fisch. & Mey. Ind. Sem. Hort. 

 Petrop. 1: 40. 1835. Stems striate angled, leafy, 3-8 dm. high: leaves 2 or 

 3-ternate, the upper sessile; leaflets rather small, sometimes pulverulent- 

 glandular beneath: flowers perfect, on long pedicels in a loose panicle: fila- 

 ments filiform with clavate summit: achenes flat, half rhombic-obovate, the 

 dorsal edge straight, short-stipitate, and tipped with the subulate style. 

 Colorado, northward and west to California. 



3. Thalictrum Fendleri Engelm. in Gray, PI. Fendl. 5. 1848. Stems 3-10 

 dm. high, 3-5-leaved: leaves 2-4-ternately compound; the leaflets firm, 

 10-12 mm. long, with rounded or mucronate lobes: flowers dioecious: fila- 



