DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 59 



blue, forming a bell-shaped flower, more than an inch long, with 

 spreading tips. Tails to the akenes conspicuous. This is found 

 from Oregon to British Columbia. 



II. ANEMO'NE, Windflower, Anem'ony 



Calyx of few or many petal-like sepals. Petals wanting. 

 Akenes pointed or with long feathery tails. Perennial herbs 

 with stem leaves ivhorled, forming a kind of involucre some 

 distance Mow the flower. 



III. THALIC'TRUM, Meadow-rue 



Flowers dioecious in panicles. Sepals ^-7, greenish. Petals 

 none. Akenes in a head, terminated by long, naked styles. 

 Leaves twice or thrice palmately compound, leaflets 3-toothed 

 or lobed, on short petioles. Generally tall, perennial herbs, 

 often with a strong disagreeable odor. The species are diffi- 

 cult to determine. 



IV. RANUN'CULUS, Buttercups 



Sepals 5. Petals 3-15, each with a little nectar-secreting 

 scale or gland at the inside of the base. Akenes in a head, 

 numerous, usually flattish. Stem leaves alternate. Flowers 

 generally yellow. (There are some that grow in the water 

 with thread-like divisions to the leaves and small white 

 flowers.) 



a. R. Califor'nicus Benth. Stems branching from a cluster of 

 thickened fibrous roots, erect, hairy. Root leaves of 3 leaflets with 

 3-7 linear divisions, or 3-lobed, with the lobes toothed. Sepals 

 turned back. Petals 10-15, glossy, yellow, nearly in. long. Akenes 

 very flat, in a round head beaked with the stout, recurved styles. 

 This is variable in size, leaves, and amount of pubescence. Through- 

 out California. 



b. R. murica'tus L. Stems stout, smooth, hollow. Flowers small. 

 Akenes large with stout beaks, and the sides covered with coarse 

 prickles. This grows in wet places and has been introduced. 



c. R. glaber'rimus Hook. Perennial, with fleshy fibrous roots. 

 Stems 3-6 in. high. Root-leaves spatulate or wedge-shaped, entire or 

 with 2-4 blunt teeth or lobes : stem leaves 3-cleft, ivith narrow divisions or 



