Mr. C. G. Babington on the Batrachian Ranunculi. 395 



R. Petiveri, Koch in Sturm, Deutschl. FL fasc. 82. t. 2. 

 R. Petiveri a. minor, Koch, Si/n. ed. 2. 13. 



Stem floating, rooting at the lower joinings, roundish, hollow ; 

 the upper part^ when flowering, often rising out of the water. 

 Submersed leaves two or three times trifurcate, afterwards bifur- 

 cate ; segments rather thick. At the first fork the branches 

 are nearly equal, long and divaricate, at the succeeding ones 

 more and more approximate. Intermediate leaves with fewer, 

 shorter and linear segments. Petioles semicylindiical, short. 

 Floating leaves flat, marked with brownish irregular spots ; 

 segments diverging, slightly combined at the base or sessile, 

 lateral ones much rounded at base externally ; outline of the 

 floating or emerged leaves scarcely more than a semicircle. 

 Petioles thick, semicyhndrical. Stipules oblong, much adnate. 

 Peduncles very long, rising high out of the water, from both 

 kinds of leaves. Buds globular, but slightly depressed and a 

 little pentagonal. Flowers rather large, star-like. Sepals oblong, 

 blunt, convex, green, with a broad diaphanous margin. Petals 

 elliptic-cuneate or obovate, white, yellow and shortly clawed 

 below, 2 to 2i times as long as the calyx even when first ex- 

 panded, their lower half much lengthened afterwards. Nectaiy 

 shortly oval, strongly margined below, scarcely at all so above, 

 forming an acute angle with the plane of the petal. Stamens 

 about 20, exceeding the pistils. Style rather long, recurved 

 fi'om near its base, prolonging the inner edge of the ovary. 

 Carpels ultimately rather acute, the inner edge nearly straight. 

 Persistent base of the style long and conical, nearly erect. 

 Receptacle as thick as the peduncle. Flowers strongly scented 

 like honey. 



Difi"ers from R. heterophyllus by its submersed leaves not col- 

 lapsing, its stem often rising out of the water, its long slender 

 and narrowing peduncles, and ligulate stigma ; from R. Baudotii 

 by the obovate segments of its floating leaves, slender peduncles, 

 half-ovate carpels compressed and narrowed at the top, and 

 stamens exceeding the pistils. 



Flowering from June to September. 



I have obtained this plant from near Chichester, Dunster 

 and Weston-super-Mare in Somersetshire, Stackpole and Tenby 

 in Pembrokeshire, and the mouth of the Tees on both sides of 

 the river I believe. It seems to prefer the neighbourhood of the 

 sea, and does not object to slightly brackish water. 



5. R. Baudotii (Godr.) ; submersed leaves closely trifurcate, 

 segments rather rigid not collapsing, floating leaves long- 

 stalked tripartite with sessile or stalked wedge-shaped 2-4- 

 lobed segments, peduncles thick narrowed at the top ex- 



