SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 48 



(3) Ranunculus. Crowfoot. 

 * Flowers white; (aquatics.) 

 R. aquatilis: plant floating; leaves capillary below three- 

 parted above water, the lobes wedge-shaped and toothed ; car- 

 pels transversely wrinkled. — Ponds, ditches, and streams. Fl. 

 May, June. 



There are several plants more or less closely resembling 

 this, which are by some regarded as mere varieties, induced by 

 varied conditions of growth. 



** Flowers yellow ; (terrestrial plants.) 

 t Leaves undivided, angulate. 



R. Ficaria: rootstock with many oblong tubers; leaves 

 mostly radical, heart-shaped, angulate, smooth, often mottled ; 

 flowers yellow, glossy ; petals variable, usually 8 or 9. — Pile- 

 wort or Lesser Celandine. — Damp shady places. Fl. April. 



tt Leaves deeply cut. 



R. auricomus : stem erect, many-flowered ; leaves smooth, 

 three-cleft, the leaflets notched ; flowers large, bright yellow ; 

 carpels downy. — Goldilocks. — Woods and coppices. Fl. April, 

 May. 



R. bulbosus: stem bulb-like at the base, erect, many-flow- 

 ered ; leaves hairy, three-cleft, with trifid cut segments ; 

 flowers large bright-yellow, the calyx-lobes reflexed ; carpels 

 smooth. — Buttercups. — Meadows and pastures. Fl. May. 



R. repens : stems producing creeping shoots ; leaves hairy, 

 three- cleft, with lobed or toothed segments ; flowers large, 

 bright yellow, the calyx-lobes spreading; carpels smooth. — 

 Buttercups. — Meadows and pastures. Fl. May to August. 



R. parviflorus : annual ; stem prostrate or ascending ; leaves 

 hairy, the lower 5 the upper 3-5 -lobed, the segments lobed ; 



