396 RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 



surpassing the sepals ; stamens 3-10 ; carpels \ery turgid, smooth or slightly 

 papillose, tipped with a minute sessile stigma. Wet places, near the coast, 

 s. N. Y. to Fla. and Tex., n. in the Miss, basin to Mo. and Tenn. Apr.-Sept. 



4- -i- -- *- Terrestrial, but often in wet places ; leaves mostly cleft or divided. 



+* Soot-leaves (or most of them) not divided to the very base; achenes 



marginless. 



= Carpels in a globose head, upon a turgid subglobose receptacle. 



13. R. rhomboideus Goldie. (DWARF B.) Low (1-2 dm. high), hairy ; root- 

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

 stem-leaves similar or 3-5-lobed, the upper 3-5-parted, almost sessile, the lobes 

 linear ; carpels obovate with a minute beak, in a globose head ; petals large, 

 deep yellow. (S. ovalis Raf. ?) Prairies and dry hills, w. Que. to Mich., la., 

 and northw. Apr., May. 



= = Carpels in an ovoid or cylindric head, on an elongated receptacle. 



a. Stigma essentially sessile. 

 1. Soot-leaves all S-parted or -lobed ; the lobes again lobed or toothed. 



14. R. sceleratus L. (CURSED C.) Annual, glabrous; root-leaves 3-lobed, 

 rounded ; lower stem-leaves 3-parted, the lobes obtusely cut and toothed, the 

 uppermost almost sessile, with the lobes oblong-linear and nearly entire ; carpels 

 barely mucronulate, very numerous, in ellipsoidal or cylindrical heads; petals 

 scarcely exceeding the calyx. Wet ditches and bogs ; sometimes appearing as if 

 introduced. June-Aug. Stem thick and hollow ; juice acrid and blistering ; 

 leaves thickish ; flowers small, pale yellow. (Eu.) 



2. Most or all of the root-leaves merely crenate. 



15. R. micranthus Nutt. Villous ; roots often fusiform-thickened, fascicu- 

 late ; root-leaves for the most part broadly obovate, scarcely if at all cordate at 

 the base, some of them 3-parted or pedately 3-divided ; the cauline subsessile, 

 divided into 3(-5) narrowly oblong leaflets; flowers very small ; petals incon- 

 spicuous, light yellow ; receptacle glabrous. (S. abortivus, var. Gray.) Open 

 deciduous woods, s. Me. to the Sask., and south w. 



16. R. abortivus L. (SMALL-FLOWERED C.) Biennial, slightly succulent ; 

 stem 1.5-6 dm. high, covered with a short sparse sometimes fugacious pubes- 

 cence ; primary root-leaves round-heart-shaped with a wide shallow sinus or 



kidney-form, barely crenate, the succeeding often 3-lobed or 



/% 3-parted ; those of the stem and branches 3-5-parted or divided, 



%/ subsessile, the divisions oblong or narrowly wedge-form, mostly 



724 R abortivus toothed ' petals pale yellow, shorter than the small reflexed calyx ; 



Carpel x 4*4 receptacle villous ; carpels minute, merely mucronulate. Shady 



hillsides and along brooks, common. Apr.-June. FIG. 724. 

 Var. eucyclus Fernald. Stem slender, flexuous, not succulent ; root-1 

 larger (often 5-6 cm. broad), orbicular, deeply cordate with a narrow sinus. 

 thin. Rich low woods, N. B. and Que. to Ct. 



b. Stigma borne on a distinct at first straightish at length more or less re- 

 curved style. 



17. R. allegheniSnsis Britton. Habit and foliage closely as in S. aborti- 

 vus; stem glaucous; petals minute, pale yellow; achenes pro- 

 vided with a distinct recurved beak. Moist places in rich woods, /*^ 



e. Mass, to Vt., e. N. Y., and southw. to N. C., locally abundant. \*f 



FIG. 726. 



18. R. Harveyi (Gray) Britton. Also with the habit and 7: 



foliage of S. abortivus ; root a fascicle of fusiform fibers ; Carpe i x 414 

 petals 6-8, oblong, 5-7 mm. in length, much larger than in 

 the related species preceding ; achenes tipped with a weak straightish beak 

 (S. abortivus, var. Gray.) Rocky ground, s. Mo. (Bush) and Ark. 



