Mr. C. C. Babington on the Batrachian Ranunculi. 391 



^& 



ovate, very blunt, concave, green with a diaphanous margin. 

 Petals distant, white, wedge-shaped, slightly clawed and yellow 

 below, about twice as long as the calyx when full-grown. 

 Nectary round, scarcely at all margined or prominent; but 

 probably this structure is not constant, for I have seen, on what 

 is apparently a plant of this species, a prominent bracket-shaped 

 nectary. Stamens from about 10 to 15, exceeding the pistils. 

 Style prolonging the inner edge of the ovary, short, curved. 

 Stigma at first oblong, afterwards elongating. Carpels blunt, 

 a little hairy, and slightly narrowed at the end. Receptacle 

 nearly globose, as thick as the peduncle. Colour of the plant 

 dark lurid green. 



This plant differs from jR. heterophyllus by its small few- 

 nerved evanescent petals, globular receptacle, dark green 

 dense rigid small submersed leaves ; from R. confusus and 

 R. Baiidotii by its short peduncles which are equally thick 

 throughout, its oblong not ligulate stigmas and globose recep- 

 tacle, deciduous small petals, and in other respects. R. flori- 

 bundus and R. peltatus are large-flowered plants that cannot be 

 confounded with it even when the former happens to want the 

 floating leaves. It differs from all the other species of the sub- 

 section by never having been observed to have floating leaves, 

 nor to show any tendency to produce them. Its nearest ally is 

 R. Drouetii. It is well marked by its stems, which float close 

 to the surface of the water, being furnished with small dense 

 rather closely placed dark green leaves, and small flowers which 

 only just rise out of the water. No species resembles it in these 

 respects. 



Flowering in May and June. 



R. trichophyllus is plentiful in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, but is perhaps not very generally distributed through- 

 out the kingdom. R. Drouetii is probably often mistaken for it, 

 as is also the wholly submersed state of R. heterophyllus. 



2. R. Drouetii (F. Schultz ?) ; submersed leaves rather closely 

 trifurcate, segments rather rigid but collapsing, floating leaves 

 (rare) tripartite with subsessile or stalked wedge-shaped bifid 

 leaflets, peduncles not narrowing and about equalling the 

 leaves, flowers small, petals obovate 5-7-nerved not con- 

 tiguous evanescent, stigma oblong, receptacle oblong, carpels 

 i-obovate sublaterally apiculate inflated at the end. 



R. Drouetii, F. Schults in Gren. et Godr. Fl. de Fr. i. 24 ? 

 R. Godrouii, Gren. in F. Schultz, Fl. Gall, et Germ, exsic. No. 1202 

 (specimen) . 



Stem floating, rooting from the lower joinings, very bluntly 



