28 



RANUNCULACE.E. XIV. RANUNCULUS. 



Var. a, vulgaris (D. C. 1. c.) stem branched at the bottom ; 

 leaves ternate ; segments trifid, cut, acute. Native of the Levant. 

 Clus. hist. 1. p. 241. f. 2. R. Asiaticus, Mill. icon. t. 216; 

 diet. No. 11. A very variable variety and a great ornament to 

 gardens, where its variations are innumerable. Flowers double 

 or single, white, yellow, red, purple, and variegated, in fact of all 

 colours, blue excepted. This variety is called the Persian Ra- 

 nuncu'us. 



Var. ft, sanguineus, (D. C. prod. 1. c. syst. 1. p. 262.) stem sim- 

 ple ; leaves ternate ; segments toothed, obtuse. Native of the Archi- 

 pelago, Caria, Cilicia, and Syria. Clus. hist. 1. p. 242. icon. 

 R. sanguineus, Mill. diet. No. 10. Flowers always double, pur- 

 ple, yellow, orange, and variegated with the same colours, ex- 

 cluding all colours verging upon white or blue. This variety is 

 called the Turkey Ranunculus. 



Var. y, tenuilobus (D. C. 1. c.) stem somewhat branched ; 

 leaves multifid, with linear-acute lobes. Native of the island of 

 Cyprus. R. Creticus albo flore. J. Bauh. hist. 3. p. 802. f. 2. 

 (ex herb. Vaill). Flowers white, yellow, rarely purple. 



According to Maddock a fine Ranunculus should have a strong 

 straight stem from 8 to 12 inches high. The flower should be of 

 an hemispherical form, at least two inches in diameter, consisting 

 of numerous petals gradually diminishing in size to the centre, 

 lying over each other, so as neither to be too close, nor too much 

 separated, but having more of a perpendicular than a horizontal 

 direction, in order to display the colours with better effect. The 

 petals, with entire well-rounded edges, their colours dark, clear, 

 rich, or brilliant, either of one colour or variously diversified on 

 an ash, white, sulphur, or fire-coloured ground, or else regularly 

 striped, spotted, or mottled in an elegant manner. The varieties 

 raised from seed are endless. Maddock, in the end of the last 

 century, had nearly eight hundred, all with proper names, and 

 ranged as purple, grey, crimson, red, rosy, orange, yellow, white, 

 olive, coffee, striped, spotted, &c. No plant is more prolific in 

 new varieties from seed ; no two plants, as Maddock observes, 

 producing flowers alike, or the same as the original. Established 

 sorts are propagated by offsets which usually flower the first year ; 

 rare sorts may be multiplied by dividing the crown of the tuber 

 with a sharp penknife into as many parts as there are buds : these 

 will not flower till the second year, but will diminish the risk of 

 losing a very rare variety. 



The Ranunculus prefers a fresh loamy soil, rather than other- 

 wise inclined to clay : it should be well manured, and it is custom- 

 ary in forming the beds to place a stratum of well-rotted cow- 

 dung, six or nine inches below the surface, which both retains 

 moisture and supplies nourishment. The roots may either be 

 planted in November or earlier, in which case, to prevent their being 

 destroyed by the frost, they should be mulched, or they need not 

 be planted till March. The former mode gives much the strongest 

 bloom, as the roots when kept in air all the winter are apt to be 

 over dried, and kept in sand they sometimes get mouldy, and in 

 this and similar cases the progress of vegetation from the plant- 

 ing to the flowering period is more rapid than is natural to the 

 plant. Ranunculus roots will retain their vegetative properties 

 two and sometimes three years, a thing not uncommon among bulbs 

 and tubersi In order to obtain good new varieties of this plant, 

 seeds should be saved from the best plants of the semi-double 

 kinds, and be sown in flat pans or boxes filled with light rich 

 earth in August, covering them a quarter of an inch thick with 

 the same sort of earth, placing them in a frame when frost is 

 apprehended. In the following season, when their leaves begin 

 to decay, the roots may be taken up and dried in the same manner 

 as the old roots, and planted with them in October, and in the fol- 

 lowing summer they will produce flowers, when such as are good 

 should be marked. The plants intended to flower should not be 



suffered to run to seed, as roots which have produced seeds seldom 

 furnish fine flowers afterwards. 



Asiatic Crowfoot, or common garden Ranunculus. Fl. May, 

 June. Clt. 1596. PI. | foot. 



25 R. JAPO'NICUS (Thunb. in Lin. soc. trans. 2. p. 337.) leaves 

 hairy, radical ones roundish, 3-cleft, with toothed, cut lobes, 

 upper ones cleft-; stem erect, hairy, branched at the top. I/ . H. 

 Native of Japan near Nagasaki, Jedo, and elsewhere, common in 

 ditches. R. Asiaticus, Thumb, jap. 241. R. Langsdorfii. Spreng. 

 syst. 2. p. 652. All parts of the plant except the corolla are 

 hairy. Stem flexuous, scarcely leafy, branching into peduncles 

 at the top. 



Japan Crowfoot. PI. 1 foot. 



26 R. KRA'PFIA (D. C. in Deless. icon. sel. 1. t. 35.) leaves 

 villous, radical ones on long stalks, ovate, somewhat trifid, toothed, 

 stem ones small, tapering to the base, trifid at the top ; stem 1- 

 flowered. I/ . H. Native of Chile about Huassa-Huassi. Krapfa 

 ranunculina. D. C. syst. 1. p. 228. Petals 5, from the dried 

 specimen apparently purple, obovate, retuse nearly as in Trbliius 

 EuropoE us, and about the same size, equalling the calyx in length. 



Krdpfs Crowfoot. PI. 1 foot. 



27 R. GUZM'ANNI (Humb. tabl. reg. equ. 69. nov. gen. 5. 

 p. 43.) upper surface of leaves and petioles villous, radical leaves 

 rather orbicular, trifid ; lobes grossly toothed at the top ; upper 

 leaves trifid with oblong entire lobes ; stem erect, pilose, few- 

 flowered ; calyx pressed, very villous. I/ . H. Native of the 

 rocky tops of the Andes near to the Equator. Deless. icon. sel. 1 . 

 t. 34. Petals obovate, rather orbicular, scarcely longer than 

 the calyx. 



Guzmann's Crowfoot. PI. \ foot. 



28 R. MACROFE'TALUS (D. C. prod. 1. p. 29.) petioles fur- 

 nished with a broad membrane ; radical leaves orbicular, crenated, 

 smooth, or pilose, cauline ones ovate-lanceolate, sessile ; stem 

 smooth, few-flowered ; calyx pressed, much smaller than the 

 petals. I/ . H. Native of Peru on mountains. R. cochleari- 

 folius, R. et P. in herb. Lamb, not Horn. Leaves large. 

 Flowers resembling a Trollius but rather larger. 



Long-petalled Crowfoot. PI. 1-j- foot. 



29 R. CRE'TICUS (Lin. spe. 775.) leaves and stems hairy, ra- 

 dical ones stalked, cordate-orbicular, somewhat cut, toothed, 

 stem ones sessile, 3-parted ; lobes oblong obtuse, somewhat 

 toothed at the top ; stem branched, many-flowered; calyx pressed. 

 I/ . H. Native of the islands in the Archipelago, especially in 

 Crete, Scio, &c. Aubr. in pict. hort. par. 37. t. 97. Clus. hist. 

 1. 236. f. 1. Flowers large golden. Carpels smooth, much com- 

 pressed, acuminated with the permanent styles, crowded into 

 elliptical-cylindrical heads, 



Var. ft, macrophyllus (Desf. all. 1. p. 437.) leaves less villous, 

 larger, profoundly lobed, with the teeth a little rounder. Native 

 of Barbary, near Sbiba, on the borders of rivulets. 



Cretan Crowfoot. Fl. April, May. Clt. 1658. PI. 1 foot. 



30 R. CORTUSJEFOLIUS (Willd. enum. 588.) leaves and stem 

 somewhat pilose ; radical leaves somewhat cordate-reniform, a 

 little lobed, broadly crenated, stem ones almost sessile, 3-5-parted, 

 floral ones lanceolate ; stem branched, corymbose ; calyx spread- 

 ing much. I/ . H. Native of the Canary Islands on rocks, as 

 well as of Sicily. Deless. icon. sel. 1. t. 36. Pict. hort. par. 

 37. t. 96, exclusive of the synonyms. R. heucherajfolius, Presl. 

 Flowers yellow, smaller than in R. Creticus, but larger than in 

 R. lanuginbsus. Fruit as in R. Creticus. 



Var, a, radical leaves orbicular and cordate at the base, ex- 

 actly like those of Cortiisa Mathlola, stem ones with toothed 

 lobes. 



Var. /3, Tenerlffce (Pers. ench. 2. p. 103.) radical leaves reni- 

 form, somewhat truncate at the base, scarcely cordate, cauline 



