316 Yellow to Orange Flowers 



name denotes, is a small creeping plant, having numerous 

 runners which root at the joints, whence spring up little 

 clusters of leaves. The flowers are yellow and very tiny, 



Ranunculus aquatilis var. capillaceus, or Water Crow- 

 foot, has tiny white and yellow flowers. The fine thread- 

 like leaves are entirely submerged under the surface of the 

 alpine lakes and pools, where the plant grows abundantly, 

 while the broader three-lobed leaves float upon the face of 

 the waters. These thread-like leaves are common to several 

 kinds of aquatic plants, and such minute division enables 

 them without a large expenditure of material to expose a 

 large surface to the carbonic acid gas dissolved in the water. 



Ranunculus reptans, or Creeping Spearwort, has small 

 yellow flowers with from four to seven petals, trailing stems 

 that root at the joints, and extremely narrow grass-like 

 leaves. The flowers are borne in the axils of the prostrate 

 creeping stems. 



Ranunculus repens, or Yellow Crowfoot, is a hairy plant, 

 which spreads by means of its runners and forms large 

 patches upon the ground; it has leaves which are divided 

 into three parts, each one of which is lobed and toothed. 

 The flower-stalk is grooved, the sepals are widely spread, 

 and the petals are half-erect This is an introduced plant. 



Ranunculus pygmaus, or Pigmy Buttercup, is a very tiny 

 plant growing only one to three inches high on the alpine 

 summits. It has deeply three to five lobed basal leaves with 

 slender stalks, and similar sessile stem leaves. The petals 

 of the wee yellow flowers slightly exceed the sepals and the 

 fruit heads are short-oblong. 



