PAN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RAN 



449 



38. Ranunculus Acns; Upright Meadow Crowfoot. Ca- 

 lices spreading a little, peduncles round; leaves three parted, 

 multifid, the uppermost linear. Root perennial, tuberous, 

 with many long, simple, white fibres. Petals bright shining 

 yellow. Native of meadows and pastures in all the northern 

 parts of Europe, and very common in England, flowering in 

 July. The scale of the nectary at once distinguishes this 

 species from the fourteenth ; the spreading calix from the 

 twenty-ninth and thirtieth ; and the round even flower- 

 stalks, from both those and the thirty-first species ; whilst 

 the smooth seeds prevent our mistaking it for any species 

 which has them rough or muricated. It is indeed known at 

 first sight from all Our other wild species, by its tall, thin, 

 genteel, upright growth, from which it has received its Eng- 

 lish name. Most of the Crowfoots are known to be acrid, 

 and some are thought to be poisonous, but this plant re- 

 ceived its trivial name from its supposed superior degree of 

 acridity. All its parts are exceedingly acrid : the juice of 

 the leaves takes away warts; and bruised together with the 

 roots, they will act as a caustic, by inflaming and corroding 

 the parts to which they are applied. In violent headaches, 

 where the pain is confined to one part, a plaster made of 

 them frequently affords almost immediate relief; and they 

 have been used in the gout with great success. Mr. Curtis 

 declares, that even pulling it up and carrying it to some little 

 distance has produced a considerable inflammation in the palm 

 of the hand ; that cattle in general will not eat it, yet that 

 sometimes, when they are turned hungry into a new field of 

 grass, or have but a small spot to range in, they feed on it, 

 and their mouths have become sore and blistered. According 

 to Linneus, sheep and goats eat it, but cattle, horses, and even 

 hogs, refuse it. When made into hay, it loses its acrid 

 quality, but then seems to be too hard and stalky to yield much 

 nourishment: if it be of any nse, it must be to correct by its 

 warmth the insipidity of the Grasses. In many pastures the 

 flowering-stems are left standing in abundance, to dissemi- 

 nate their seeds : before they'could do that, they might easily 

 be cut down with the scythe, or be pulled up by women and 

 children after a shower, which would more effectually de- 

 stroy the plants ; they should be gathered into heaps, and 

 burnt. It flowers in June and July, and is confounded with 

 the twenty-ninth and thirty-first species, under the name of 

 Butter-flower or Butter-cups, under a notion that the yel- 

 low colour of butter is owing to these plants. It is the rich- 

 ness and exuberance of the pasture that communicates this 

 colour to the butter, and not these flowers, which the oattle 

 seldom or ever touch. 



39. Ranunculus Lanuginosus ; Broad-leaved Crowfoot. 

 Calices spreading a little ; peduncles round ; stem and 

 petioles hirsute; leaves five-cleft, lobed, crenate, velvety. 

 Flowers yellow, much like those of the preceding species. 

 This is easily known by its stature, hairiness, and place of 

 growth in woods and shade. Native of Denmark, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Austria, the south of France, and Piedmorit. 



40. Ranunculus Choarophyllos ; Fine-leaved Crmvfoot. 

 Calices turned back; peduncles grooved; stem upright, one- 

 flowered ; leaves linear, multifid ; root perennial ; flower yel- 

 low; plant acrid. Native of France and Italy. It is not 

 often observed in England, probably owing to its humble 

 growth, the smallness of its flowers, and its want of elegance 

 in form or colour. It occurs, however, in several places about 

 London ; as, near Canberwell, about Lee Bridge, and near 

 Walthamstow. Found also on Green-street green, near 

 Dartford in Kent; near Worcester, and on Malvern-hill near 

 Norwich ; near Madingley, Trumpington, Shelford, Toft, 

 and Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire; on Bullington green, 



Shotover hill, and South-Leigh, in Oxfordshire ; on St. Vin- 

 cent's rocks near Bristol ; near Lymington and Lulworth 

 cove in Dorsetshire, where some of the fallow lauds in the 

 neighbourhood of Blandford are overrun with it. 



41. Ranunculus Millefoliatus. Leaves superdecompound, 

 linear; calices hairy; stem branched, silky, villose. It is 

 allied to the preceding species ; root tuberous, oblong, in 

 bundles, narrowing downwards, and ending in a fibre. It 

 flowers in winter. Native of Greece, Syria, Barbary, &c. 



42. Ranunculus Parvulus ; Little Upright Crowfoot. 

 Seeds tubercled ; leaves hirsute, three-lobed, gashed ; stem 

 upright, few-flowered; root Small, annual, with long simple 

 fibres. It flowers in July and August. Native of the south 

 of France, Italy, and Russia. Found also in abundance 

 near Bristol hot-wells. 



43. Ranunculus Arvensis; Corn Crowfoot. Seeds prickly ; 

 leaves trifid, decompound ; segments linear ; root annual, 

 composed of simple fibres ; stem upright, a foot or more in 

 height; flowers small, lemon-coloured. Every part of the 

 plant has a pale appearance, and is easily distinguished from, 

 our wild Crowfoots by this circumstance, by its large prickly 

 seeds, its annual root, and its place of growth, which is in 

 corn-fields, where it is very common among crops of all" kinds, 

 in most parts of Europe, but more abundantly in some soils 

 than in others ; flowering in May and June, and ripening its 

 seeds before harvest, so that it fills the ground, but, not being 1 

 a very luxuriant plant, is not a very formidable weed. In 

 some counties it is called Hunger-iveed, probably from its in- 

 dicating a sterile soil. It is said to be as highly acrimonious 

 when fresh, as any of the other species. Mr. Brugnon relates 

 its poisonous effects on sheep, who nevertheless eat it greedily, 

 as also do cattle and horses. It occasions colic, gangrene of 

 the stomach, and death in a few hours. Three ounces of 

 the juice killed a dog in four minutes. The above author 

 things vinegar the best antidote. Happily for England, this 

 plant generally grows where it is not accessible to cattle; 

 which probably is the reason why we have not heard of any 

 mischief done by it in this country ; but the husbandman 

 would do well to g.uard against it in fallow-fields, and pas- 

 tures in the neighbourhood of corn land. 



44. Ranunculus Muricatus. Seeds prickly; leaves simple, 

 lobed, blunt, smooth; stem diffused; root-leaves three-lobed, 

 smooth, toothed ; teeth blunt, unequal. Native of ditches 

 and marshes in the south of Europe and in Barbary. 



45. Ranunculus Parviflorus ; Small-flowered Crowfoot. 

 Seeds prickly; prickles hooked; leaves simple, laciniated, 

 acute, hirsute ; stem diffused; root annual, fibrous; petals 

 pale yellow. It flowers in May and June, and the seeds 

 ripen in June and July. Native of the more temperate parts 

 of Europe ; and in England, on banks, and in waste as well 

 as cultivated ground where the soil is gravelly. 



46. Ranunculus Orientalis ; Oriental Crowfoot. Leaves 

 spiny, subulate, recurved ; calices reflex ; leaves multifid. 

 Flowers large, pale yellow. Native of the Levant. 



47. Ranunculus Grandiflorus ; Great-flowered Crowfoot. 

 Stem upright, two-leaved; leaves multifid; stem-leaves alter- 

 ternate, sessile. Native of the Levant. 



48. Ranunculus Falcatus ; Sickle-seeded Crowfoot. Leaves 

 wedge-form, three-parted ; segments multifid, filiform ; seeds 

 sickle-shaped ; scape naked, one-flowered. Root annuaL; 

 stalks simple, downy, each bearing a small yellow flower. 

 Native of Austria, in corn-fields, and of other parts in the 

 south of Europe and the Levant; flowering early in spring, 

 and soon passing away. 



49. Ranunculus Hederaceus; Ivy-leaved Crowfoot. Leaves 

 roundish, kidney-shaped, three or five lobed, entire, even : 



