RANUNCULUS. 



afford plants for the following year, while the old cormus decays. 

 Stems several, erect, round, hairy, branching. Root leaves on long 

 petioles, ternate, sometimes quinate ; the segments variously cut, 

 lobed and toothed, hairy ; stem-leaves sessile, ternate, the upper 

 ones more simple. Flowers several on a stem, solitary, of a bright 

 glossy yellow. Peduncles furrowed, angular, hairy. Sepals oblong, 

 hairy, bent back against the peduncle. Petals 5, inversely heart -shaped. 

 Stamens numerous, yellow, with oblong erect anthers. Ovaries nume- 

 rous with reflexed stigmas. Receptacles spherical. Carpels acute, naked, 

 diverging, with recurved points. Exceedingly acrid, raising blisters 

 and producing extensive inflammation, sometimes followed by deep 

 ill-conditioned sloughing ulcers in certain constitutions, but not af- 

 fecting all persons alike, in which respect it resembles the poisonous 

 species of Rhus and Antiaris. Gilibert states that it vesicates with less 

 pain than cantharides, and without affecting the urinary passages. 

 Plant. Rar. Lith. No. 331. 



18. R. Thora Linn, sp.pl. 775. Jacq.fi. austr. v. t. 442. 

 DC.prodr. i. 30. QyXvpovov, Theophrastus. AKOVKOV wap&aXjay^, 

 Dioscorides. Rocks and meadows on mountains near the 

 limits of perpetual snow, in the alps of Europe. 



Leaves quite smooth ; those next the root which are stalked, and 

 those on the stem which are sessile, reniform and crenated, those next 

 the flowers cut. Stem 2-3-flowered ; flowers smooth. Carpels ovate, 

 but little compressed, pointed with the style, loosely collected into a 

 roundish head. Root extremely acrid and poisonous ; the juice 

 formerly used by Swiss hunters to envenom their weapons ; wounds 

 so produced are said to have become speedily fatal. 



19. R. sceleratus Linn. sp. pi. 776. Fl. Dan, t. 371. 

 Fl. Land. t. 42. Eng. Bot. t. 681. DC. prodr. i. 34. Smith 

 Eng.fi. iii. 48. In wet ditches and by the side of water 

 all over Europe ; in Siberia, the Crimea, the Levant, Cochin 

 China, India, North America. 



Root fibrous. Herb juicy, various in luxuriance, from 6 inches to 

 2 feet high, of a pale shining green, very smooth, except occasionally 

 the flower stalks and upper part of the stem, which are now and then 

 hairy. Stem thick, round, hollow, repeatedly branched, leafy. Lower 

 leaves stalked, rounded, bluntly lobed and cutj upper sessile, with 

 deeper and narrower segments ; uppermost of all, accompanying the 

 flowers, lanceolate, undivided. Flowers small, pale yellow, numerous, 

 on solitary stalks, either terminal, axillary, or opposite the leaves. 

 Calyx hairy, reflexed. Petals orbicular. Gland somewhat tubular. 

 Fruit cylindrical, obtuse, various in length, composed of numerous 

 small carpels. Smith. Leaves said to be used by beggars to produce 

 ulcers. Krapf found that 2 drops of the juice, or a bit of a leaf or 

 flower, produced acute pain in the stomach, and a burning in the 

 throat ; but when diluted, it became innocuous, so that half a drachm 

 in 6 ounces of water might be taken without danger. 



20. R. acris Linn. sp. pi. 779. Eng. Bot. t. 652. Woodv. 

 t. 246. Smith Eng.fi. iii. .52. S. and C. ii. t. 82. Common in 

 meadows and pastures everywhere in Europe. 



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