BUTTERCUPS ; A STUDY OF SPECIES 293 



is found just in the same place in every buttercup, and 

 this fact strengthens the opinion that the spearworts, 

 though they have peculiar leaves, may fairly be considered 

 as particular kinds of buttercups. 



In ponds and slow streams we often find growing in great 

 abundance plants which have much resemblance to butter- 

 cups. The parts of the flower agree in every important 

 respect, even to the gland at the base of the petal, but 

 the petals are white instead of yellow. The leaves are 

 usually of two kinds floating leaves which are deeply 

 cut ; and finely divided, submerged leaves, which look 

 almost like leaf-skeletons. The old-fashioned name for 

 these plants is water- crowfoot. If we were to go by the 

 flowers, we might consider these too as peculiar kinds of 

 buttercup, and call them water-buttercups. 



Is the celandine which flowers so freely on shady banks 

 in early spring a buttercup ? It has undivided, heart- 

 shaped leaves. The sepals are usually not five but three, 

 and there are always more than five petals ; but the 

 celandine is of a bright yellow colour, while it has numerous 

 stamens and carpels, and even a honey-gland and scale 

 at the base of the petal, just as in a true buttercup. 



These examples show that it is not quite a simple matter 

 to say what a buttercup is. If we judge by the leaves, 

 we should be inclined to say that the spearworts and the 

 celandine are not buttercups. If we judge by the colour of 

 the flowers, we should say that the water-crowfoot is not 

 a buttercup, but that the spearworts and celandine are. 

 If we go by the stamens, carpels and honey-glands, we 

 should call all of them buttercups. Botanists have 

 generally taken this last course, and have made them 

 into a single group, which they call a genus. We might 

 call it the Buttercup or Ranunculus genus. 



We shall be obliged to alter our popular names a little, 

 if we wish to bring all the species of this genus under a 

 single English name. There is much practical convenience 

 in doing so, and we must try to find a good common name 



