16 RANUNCULACE^E. RANUNCULUS. 



yellow : achenes numerous, in a large globose head, plump, smooth, tipp- 

 ed with a short curved beak : peduncles recurving in fruit until the heads 

 rest on the ground. In wet places from the Blue Mountains of Oregon to 

 eastern California and the Rocky Mountains. 



R. digitatus Hook. Kew Misc. iii, 124, t. 4. Less than a span high from 

 a cluster of short and downwardly tuberous-thickened roots; glabrous: leaves 

 tew, pfltioled, entire and lanceolate, or digitately or somewhat pedately lobed 

 the 3 to 5 segments narrowly lanceolate or oblong-spatulate. obtuse: flowers 2 

 or 3. terminal. 5 to 10 lines in diameter, with 5 to 11- obloDg-spatnlate petals: 

 fruit subglobose, akenes beaked with the subulate recurved style. Mountains 

 of southern Idaho Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, 



-t- +- Leaves all 2-4-ternately parted or divided into numerous nar- 

 row divisions: achenes turgid, subulate-beaked, dorsally marginless, 

 smooth or nearly so. Low perennials with fibrous-fascicled roots. 



R. triternatus Gray Proc. Am. Acad. xxi, 370. Stems ascending, 2-6 

 inches long: leaves usually triternately divided and parted; primary divi- 

 ions petiolulate, lobes filiform-linear to linear-spatulate, obtuse : inflores- 

 cence secund : peduncles stout, 2 inches long, at length recurved and the 

 heads resting on the ground: petals broadly obovate, 4-6 lines long: 

 achenes very turgid, rounded on the back, slender-beaked, the head glo- 

 bose with a thick globular receptacle. Klickitat Co. Washington, on the 

 highest hills opposite the Dalles ; flowering in very early spring. 



R. eximius Greene Eryth. iii, 19. Radical leaves very few, often only 

 one, on sh<>rt stout petioles !-'< inches long, the blade of cuneate-obovate 

 qr almost flabelliform outline deeply about 7-lobed at the broad summit, 

 otherwise entire: upper cauline leaves sessile, broadly cuneiform, an inch 

 long, cleft to the middle into about 5 lanceolate-or broadly linear lobes : 

 periphery of the expanded large corolla quite circular by the overlapping 

 of the numerous broadly obovate or almost obcordate yellow petals. Al- 

 pine or subalpine, Idaho and Wyoming to the Rocky Mountains. 



*--- <- Leaves mostly cleft or more divided, some radical ones un- 

 divided but at least crenate or dentate : achenes turgid or lenticular, 

 marginless : high mountain perennials with rather large flowers. 



R. Suksdorlii Gray Proc. Am. Acad. xxi, 371. Glabrous: stems 4-10 

 inches high from a fascicle of fleshy-fibrous roots, 1-3-flowered ; leaves small, 

 somewhat reniform, 3-5-cleft or parted, divisions of the radical ones 3-5- 

 clef tor incised, of the cauline linear; petals round-obovate, retuse, 4-6 lines 

 long, deep yellow : achenes glabrous, turgid-lenticular, acutish-edged, tipp- 

 ed with an almost filiform long style. In damp ground on Mount Adams, 

 Washington at 6000 to 7800 feet elevation. 



R. Eschscholtzii Schlecht. Animad. Ranunc. ii, 16, t, 1. Stems ascen- 

 ding, 6-12 inches long, 1-3-flowered : leaves roundish in outline ; radical all 

 3-5-parted or deeply cleft, and their obovate or cuneate divisions mostly 

 lobed or incised ; cauline similar or with oblong to spatulate or lanceolate 

 and often entire divisions : petals 3-6 lines long : achenes glabrous, with 

 slender-subulate and mostly straight style of more than half their length ; 

 heads oblong. Alpine, in the Cascade Mountains to Alaska and the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



R. cardiophyllus Hook. Fl. i, 14, t. 5. Hirsutely pubescent : stems 

 robust, 10-12 inches high: radical leaves round-cordate, coarsely crenate to 

 3-7-cleft; cauline nearly sessile, palmately many-cleft, the linear lobes 

 incisely crenate: petals golden yellow, broadly oval, very obtuse, twice as 

 long as the spreading sepals: achenes small, roundish, tipped with a long 

 hooked style. On high mountains, Oregon to Alaska, Canada and the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



-*-*--- Slender-rooted annual, with small flowers and achenes. 



