448 



RAN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RAN 



always be removed in favourable weather. In spring, when 

 the ground is loose, tread or beat it on a fine day, press- 

 ing it close to the plants with the fingers, to keep out the 

 cold parching winds. Some long straw, placed between 

 the rows, will protect the plants, and keep the ground moist: 

 if the spring showers should fail, water must be applied 

 gently between the rows. When the seed-leaves appear, 

 ' the young plants will require more air, and must be regularly 

 but gently watered, except when there are warm showers of 

 rain. When the sun shines hot, the glasses must be raised 

 to admit fresh air, and the frame also shaded with mats. 

 To conclude : The varieties produced from the semi-double 

 flowers are unbounded, and more numerous than any other 

 flower; and the catalogue of a celebrated florist boasts nearly 

 eight hundred. According to him, a fine Ranunculus should 

 have a strong straight stem from eight to twelve inches high. 

 The flower should be of a 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 horizontal direction, in order 

 to display the colour with better effect: the petals should be 

 broad, with entire well-rounded edges : their colour should 

 be dark or 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 mot- 

 tled in an elegant manner. 



28. Ranunculus Ruteefolius; Rue-leaved Crowfoot. Leaves 

 pinnate and ternate ; leaflets three-parted, multifid ; stem 

 quite simple ; corolla many-petalled ; root tuberous. The 

 stem is from two to five inches high, mostly simple and 

 single-flowered, sometimes bearing two, rarely three flowers : 

 these are of a brilliant white, at first tinged with red, on long 

 stalks. It flowers in June; and is a native of the moun- 

 tains of Austria, Dauphiny, Switzerland, and Piedmont. 



29. Ranunculus Glacialis; Two-flowered Crowfoot. Calices 

 hirsute; stem two-flowered; leaves multifid. Root large and 

 fleshy, in the form of a bulb, verv acrid, and putting forth 

 many long thick fibres. It flowers in June ; and is a native 

 of Lapland, Denmark, Switzerland, Danphiny, and Piedmont, 

 on high granite mountains near the continual snows. ' 



30. Ranunculus Nivalis; Alpine Yellow Crowfoot. Calix 

 hirsute; stem one-flowered; root-leaves palmate; stem-leaves 

 many-parted, sessile. Flowers solitary, on long, terminal, 

 hairy stalks; petals yellow, obovate, twice the length of the 

 calix. Native of Lapland and Norway. 



31. Ranunculus Alpestris; Alpine White Crowfoot. Root- 

 leaves subcordate, blunt, three-parted; stem-leaf lanceolate, 

 quite entire. Stem one or two flowered. Native of Switzer- 

 land, Austria, Carniola, and Dauphiny. 



32. Ranunculus Lapponicus ; Lapland Crowfoot. Leaves 

 three-parted, lobed, blunt; stem almost flaked, one-flowered; 

 root fibrous; flower terminating, yellow. Native of Lapland. 



33. Ranunculus Monspeliacus ; Montpelier Crowfoot. 

 Leaves three-parted, crenate ; stem simple, villose, almost 

 naked, one-flowered. Flower of a brilliant golden yellow. 

 Native of the south of France, and of Barbary. 



34. Ranunculus Bulbosus; Bulbous Croiijfoot, or Butter- 

 cups. Calices bent back ; peduncles grooved ; stem upright, 

 many-flowered; leaves compound; root a solid white roundish 

 bulb, flatted a little both at top and bottom, somewhat resem- 

 bling a small turnip. It is distinguished from the thirty-first 

 species, with which some others have confounded it, by its 

 roots, by its never throwing out runners, and by ks reflexed 

 calix : this last character arises from its particular structure, 

 the lower half being thin and almost transparent, and not 



having sufficient solidity to support itself upright. It is the 

 second flower which, next to the Dandelion, covers the mea- 

 dows with dazzling yellow. Like most of the Crowfoots, it 

 possesses the property of inflaming and blistering the skin ; 

 particularly the roots, which are said to raise blisters with less 

 pain and greater safety than Spanish flies, and have been 

 applied for that purpose, especially to the joints, in the gout. 

 The juice is even more acrid than that of the sixteenth species, 

 and, if applied to the nostrils, provokes sneezing. The roots, 

 on being kept, lose their stimulating quality, and are even 

 eatable when boiled. Boys often dig them up, and devour 

 them. The herb is too acrid to be eaten alone by cattle; ac- 

 cordingly the flowering-stalks are left to perfect the seeds in 

 pastures, though some of it certainly is consumed; and it ap- 

 pears probable that this and other pungent plants mixed 

 with the Grasses, may act with a powerful stimulus to some 

 animals, as salt does to others. It abounds in dry pastures, 

 and flowers in May. Besides the name of Round-rooted or 

 Bulbous Crowfoot, it is called, by the common people, But- 

 ter-flower, Butter-cups, King-cups, Gold-cups ; and it is the 

 "cuckow-buds of yellow hue," in Shakspeare. This species, 

 and the two following, are all confounded by the vulgar un- 

 der one name. 



35. Ranunculus Hirsutus; Pale Hairy Crowfoot. Calices 

 bent back, acuminate; stem upright, many-flowered, hirsute; 

 leaves ternate; root fibrous, annual. The flowers and seeds 

 are smaller than in the preceding species. Petals yellow 

 above, paler and opaque beneath. Mr. Curtis observed 

 this species in various places near London ; as, by the road- 

 side between Crydon and Mitcham, near Gravesend, and 

 plentifully by the sea-side ; also on the gravelly banks about 

 Southampton. It has also been seen upon new-made banks 

 in the salt-marshes near Yarmouth; on South Leigh common, 

 in Oxfordshire; and abundantly in the pastures of Bedford- 

 shire. 



36'. Ranunculus Repens ; Creeping Crowfoot. Calices 

 spreading a little ; peduncles grooved ; runners creeping ; 

 leaves compound; root perennial, consisting of numerous 

 white fibres ; flowering-stem erect, generally supporting two 

 flowers. The whole herb is rough and hairy, of a dark 

 green; and the petals deep yellow. This species is suffi- 

 ciently distinct from the other common Crowfoots, in its 

 creeping stems, and sending forth more roots at every joint: 

 which render it more mischievous than those, as also because 

 it will thrive in almost any soil, and is very sure to become 

 the principal plant of the pasturage, to the great detriment 

 of the farmer. From the great variety of soil and situation 

 in which this species is found, it assumes many varieties. 

 By a river's side, or in marshes, it will grow three or four 

 feet high, with a stem nearly as large as a man's thumb; in 

 barren gravelly fields it is entirely procumbent, with a stem 

 not larger than a small wheat straw ; but in all states it re- 

 tains the character of the creeping stem, and does not lose it 

 in cultivation. Its principal time of flowering is in June, but 

 it may be found in blossom during most of the ensuing sum- 

 mer months, in meadows and pastures, under hedges, in 

 shady waste places, church-yards, and gardens. The qua- 

 lities of this and the twenty-ninth species are nearly alike, 

 both blister the skin, and are very acrid to the taste. It is 

 sometimes found double, though not very often. 



37. Ranunculus Polyanthemos ; Many-flowered Crowfoot. 

 Calices spreading a little; peduncles grooved; stem upright; 

 leaves many-parted. Flowers large, yellow, drooping. This 

 species has no sensible acrimony. Native of Germany, 

 Switzerland, Sweden, Dauphiny, and Piedmont, in woods; 

 flowering in May and June. It is perennial. 



