RANUNCULUS. RANUNCULACE^. 17 



R. eremogenes Greene Eryth. iv, 121. R. scekratus of authors as to 

 the western plant. Glabrous: stem erect, stout and fistulous, 6-30 inches 

 high, sparingly leafy, simple below, loosely corymbose-paniculate above, 

 herbage light-green ; lower leaves round-reniform, deeply 2-5-lobed, the 

 lobes obtusely-toothed above ; upper leaves more deeply and narrowly cut : 

 petals light yellow, surpassing the sepals : achenes numerous, smooth, flat- 

 tened, with very short beak, crowded in a short-oblong head : the oblong- 

 ovoid receptacle much inflated. Wet springy places, northern California 

 to Brit. Columbia and the Rocky Mountains ; east of the Cascade Mts. 



H- H- .*- .*- -- Leaves variously cleft or divided : achenes compressed, 

 usually flat, surrounded by a firm or indurated margin : none truly 

 alpine. 



-M- Radical leaves not divided into separate leaflets : petals usually 

 only 5 : achenes smooth or barely pubescent, in globose or oblong heads. 



= Style long, recurving, wholly persistent in a rigid and uncinate, 

 elongated beak. 



1 Perennials with erect stems from somewhat fleshy-fibrous roots. 



R. occidentalis Nutt. T. & G. Fl. i, 22. Pilose with spreading hairs : 

 stems rather slender, 10-18 inches high, at length much branched : radical 

 leaves orbicular, subcordate, more or less deeply 3-lobed, or 3-parted, and 

 coarsely toothed, an inch or less in diameter ; cauline leaves deeply cut 

 into 3-5 linear lobes : petals obovate-oblong, 3-7 lines long, twice as long as 

 the reflexed sepals : achenes smooth or nearly so, flat, a line in diameter; 

 beak nearly as long as the body; heads globose. Common in dry open 

 places, Oregon to Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, 



R. Eiseni Kellogg Proc. Cal. Acad. vii, 115. Sparingly villous : stems 

 slender, at length widely branched above, 1-2 feet high : leaves rather 

 small, not cordate at base, palmately 3-lobed or 3-parted, the broad cunei- 

 form lobes of the radical ones trifid : petals obovate-oblong, 3-5 lines long, 

 twice as long as the reflexed sepals: achenes broad and rounded, compress- 

 ed and thin, glabrous, tipped with a short recurved beak. In dry ground, 

 mountains of southern Oregon to middle California. 



R. Rattani. R. occidentalis var. Rattani Gray Proc. Am. Acad. zxi, 372. 

 More or less villous \\ithlongwhite hairs: stem slender, 1-2 feet high, 

 widely branching above : leaves palmately 3-parted or 3-lobed, not cordate 

 at base, the broad cuneiform lobes of^the radical ones trifid : sepals 2-3 

 lines long, reflexed ; petals obovate-oblong, 4-6 lines long or more : achenes 

 becoming roughish-papillose, and sparsely or thickly beset with short 

 hairs. Dry ground, southern Oregon and northern California. 



R. Howellii Greene ms. R occidentalis var. Howellii Greene Pitt. Hi. 14- 

 R. canusHowellP. C. PL No. 1331. not Benth. Stems slender, smooth, 1-2 feet 

 hgih, widely branched above: leaves broadly cuneate, palmately 3-5-lobed 

 or -parted, the cuneiform segments 3-toothed or -lobed, canescent with a 

 long appressed-silkr pubescence : sepals ovate, acute, pubescent outside, 

 soon reflexed, 2-3 lines long : petals obovate-oblong, 4-6 lines long or more : 

 achenes rather small, smooth, tipped with a subulate, slightly hooked to 

 almost straight, elongated style. Dry hillsides about Ashland Oregon, 

 extending to near the Klamath river in California. 



R. ciliosus. Soft-pubescent with moderately long, white, at length 

 spreading hairs : stems 1-several from a fascicle of fleshy-fibrous perennial 

 roots, erect or ascending ; lower leaves 3-parted, the obovate or oblanceo- 

 late segments acutely 2-5-lobed ; the cauline 3-parted, the acute lanceolate 

 segments entire or 2-3-lobed; the uppermost lanceolate and entire: sepals 

 ovate, acutish, 2-3 lines long, soon reflexed ; petals broadly obovate, 4-6 

 lines long: young achenes roundish, ciliate on the outer edge, tipped with 

 a long subulate hooked style: mature achenes not seen. Moist banks, 

 in Bear Valley, Blue Mountains, Oregon. Howell. May 23, 1885. 



