46 



THE EAELY CROWFOOT. 



VIII. THE EARLY CROWFOOT. 



Description. In May and June the fields are resplen- 

 dent with Buttercups. As early as April we find one kind, 

 at least, gilding the rocky hills and woods. In this, and its 



portrait, root, stems, leaves, 

 flowers, stalks, and fruit are 

 present. 



Analysis. The 

 is a bundle (fas- 

 cicle) of fibers, some of 

 which are thickened, 

 fleshy, almost tuber- 

 ous ; we call such 

 roots fasciculate. 

 They are strong 

 and durable. 

 They have sur- 

 vived the frosts 

 of the past win- 

 ter ; and if you 

 have considered 

 the Crowfoot 

 plant from year 

 to year, you have 

 learned that it is a perennial Jierl. Although the parts 

 above ground perish in Autumn, the root still lives and 

 sends up another plant in the following Spring, and so on for 

 many seasons. The symbol adopted for such an herb is 2. 



The Stem (or stems, for there may be several arising 

 from the same root) is green and herbaceous, branching, 

 hairy, 6-10' high, and ending in the flower-stalks. 



FIG. VHI. Ranunculus fascicularis : 3, a head of car- 

 pels ; 4, a single carpel ; 5, the seed in the achenium ; 6, 

 seed dissected, showing the embryo in albumen. 



