450 



RAN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RAN 



stem creeping. Roots perennial, fibrous, numerous, simple, 

 whitish, penetrating deeply into the mud. Stems either 

 creeping or floating, prostrate, branched, round, and succu- 

 lent ; flowers very small ; petals white, with yellow claws. 

 The leaves sometimes have a dark spot in the middle of 

 each, and in some situations the flowers are much larger 

 than in others. It flowers from May to August, and is found 

 in slow shallow rivulets, especially where the soil is sandy, 

 in watery places, and shallow muddy ditches. Native of 

 many parts of Europe, as Denmark, Germany, France, and 

 even of Siberia and Barbary. 



50. Ranunculus Aquatilis ; Water Crowfoot. Submerged 

 leaves capillaceous; emerged leaves subpeltate; stamens nu 

 merous; seeds corrugated. Root perennial, fibrous, throwing 

 up long round stems, clothed with alternate leaves, having 

 broad membranaceous stipules at the base of their foot-stalks. 

 The flowers are sometimes very large, and make a handsome 

 show in ponds and ditches. The curious variety in the float- 

 ing and immersed leaves, adds to the beauty of this common 

 aquatic plant. The other varieties grow floating in the water, 

 and have all the leaves capillary. In one, they form a round- 

 ish line; in another, the segments of the leaves are very long, 

 parallel, and take the direction of the current. These varieties 

 are clearly occasioned by the depth and velocity of the stream. 

 Dr. Pulteney has recorded a curious fact, which contradicts the 

 assertions of the deleterious qualities of this plant, and proves 

 that it is not merely innoxious, but nutritive to cattle, and 

 capable of being converted to useful purposes in agricultural 

 economy. In the neighbourhood of Ringwood, on the borders 

 of the Avon, some of the cottagers support their cows, and 

 even horses, almost wholly by thrs plant. A man collects 

 a quantity every morning, and brings it in a boat to the edge 

 of the water, from which the cows eat it with great avidity ; 

 insomuch that they stint them, and allow only about twenty- 

 five or thirty pounds to each cow daily. One man kept five 

 cows and one horse so much on this plant, with the little 

 that the heath afforded, that they had not consumed more than 

 half a ton of hay throughout the whole year; none being 

 used, except when the river was frozen over. Hogs are also 

 fed with this plant, and improve so well on it, that it is not 

 necessary to give them any other sustenance till they are 

 put up to fatten. This property of Water Crowfoot is the 

 more remarkable, because all the species are deemed acri- 

 monious, and some undoubtedly are so in a high degree. 

 It is probable that this species is rendered inert, and even 

 wholesome, by growing in the water; although it must be 

 confessed, that in other instances moisture heightens the dele- 

 terious properties of vegetables, especially in the umbelliferous 

 tribe. Before the introduction of Cantharides, several of the 

 Crowfoots were used as vesiccatories, and are said to act with 

 less pain, and without any effect on the urinary passages ; but 

 their action is supposed to be uncertain, and they are accused 

 of frequently leaving ill-conditioned ulcers. 



51. Ranunculus Ophioglossoides. Stem simple, upright; 

 leaves nerved, lower leaves ovate, subcordate, petioled ; 

 floral-leaves sessile, lanceolate. Native of the mountains of 

 Dauphiny. 



52. Ranunculus Frigidus. Root-leaves wedge-form, ovate, 

 five-toothed at the tip; stem-leaves, sessile, palmate. Native 

 of the mountains of Siberia. 



53. Ranunculus Trilobus. Stem upright; leaves smooth]; 

 steni-leaves three-lobed; peduncles striated; seeds compress- 

 ed, tuberclefl. Flowers very small, yellow. Found in moist 

 fields near Mayane, in the north of Africa. 



54. Ranunculus Spicatus. Leaves oblong, toothed; stem 

 simnle; seeds in snikes; roots consisting of numerous oblong 



bulbs in bundles. Native of the marshes in the neighbour- 

 hood of Algiers. 



55. Ranunculus Flabellatus. Leaves simple, toothed, and 

 ternate; leaflets laciniate; stem simple. Found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Algiers. 



56. Ranunculus Japonica. Leaves gash-terminate; lobes 

 gashed-toothed, hirsute; stem hirsute. Native of Japan. 



57. Ranunculus Seguieri. Leaves three-parted ; lobes 

 multifid, laciniate, acute, all petioled ; stem many-flowered ; 

 calices smooth. Native of the mountains of Italy, Dauphiny, 

 a-nd Carniola. 



58. Ranunculus Mon-tanus. Leaves five-lobed, toothed ; 

 stem-leaf sessile, digitate ; segments linear, lanceolate, quite 

 entire; stem one-flowered. Native of the mountains of Swit- 

 zerland, Dauphiny, and Austria. 



59. Ranunculus Gouani. Leaves five-lobed, toothed ; stem- 

 leaf sessile, palmate; segments lanceolate, toothed; stem one- 

 flowered.- Native of the Pyrenees and Hungary. 



60. Ranunculus Hyperboreus. Leaves deeply three-lobed : 

 lobes oblong, divaricate ; stem filiform, creeping. Native of 

 Iceland, Norway, and Siberia, in watery places. 



61. Ranunculus Polyrhizos, Root-leaves palmate; stem- 

 leaves sessile, digitate; stem many-flowered; roots in bundles. 

 Native of Siberia. 



62. Ranunculus Cappadocicus. Calices patulous; pedun- 

 cle round ; stem subbifid ; leaves cordate, three-lobed, tooth- 

 ed. Native of Cappadocia. 



63. Ranunculus Oxyspermus. Root-leaves oblong, blunt, 

 sinuate-toothed ; stem-leaves sessile, digitate, gashed ; seeds 

 awned. Native of Siberia. 



64. Ranunculus Polyphyllus. Submerged leaves oblong, 

 petioled, capillaceous ; floating leaves wedge-shaped, three- 

 lobed ; emerged leaves elliptic ; stem upright; flowers very 

 small and yellow. Native of Hungary. 



65. Ranunculus Nitidus. Plant very glabrous; stems fis- 

 tulose; radical leaves rotundate-subreniform, obtusely cre- 

 nate ; stem-leaves sessile, digitate; folioles cut; segments 

 obtuse; seeds subglobose, very smooth; flowers small; petals 

 white. Grows in inundated grounds from New York to 

 Canada. This is evidently closely allied to Ranunculus Abor - 

 tivus; and Pursh suspects that they are only varieties. 



66. Ranunculus Pygmseus. Plant small, glabrous ; radical 

 leaves subcordate-reniform, inciso-der.tate ; stem-leaves ses- 

 sile, digitate ; segments linear, very entire; stem with few 

 flowers ; petals oblong, nearly equal to the calix, yellow.- - 

 Native of Lapland and Labrado:e. 



67. Ranunculus Tomentosus. Plant very villose, low; 

 stem creeping, one and two flowered; leaves tomentose, 

 trilobate; calix hispid, subreflex ; flowers yellowish white. 

 Grows in Carolina. 



68. Ranunculus Marylandicus. Plant pubescent; stem 

 simple, nearly naked; radical leaves ternate; little leaves 

 trilobate; lobes acute, cut; calix reflex; flowers two or three, 

 terminal, on short, scarcely downy stalks, pale yellow. 

 Grows in shady woods from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and 

 flowers from June to August. 



69. Ranunculus Recurvatus. Plant pubescent; leaves 

 trilobous; lobes cuneiform at the base, cut and acute at the 

 tip; stem multiflorous; corolla and capsules recurved; petals 

 linear, almost white. Grows in shady woods from New York 

 to Carolina, and flowers from June to August. 



70. Ranunculus Septentrionalis. Plant slightly glabrous; 

 leaves membranaceous, glabrous, ternate ; little leaves sub- 

 trilobate, cut, acute ; stem and petioles rough at the base ; 

 peduncles snbbiflorous; calices reflex; flowers pale yellow. 

 Grows in North America. 



