HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Bulbous Crowfoot or Buttercup 



R. bulbbsus. — Color, a deep satiny yellow. Flowers, i inch 

 across. The petals, 5, 6, or 7, are round and open widely. Sepals, 

 turn back. Leaves, mostly from the root, 3-divided, on long 

 petioles. The terminal lobe has a stalk; the two side divisions 

 are sessile, all much cleft and toothed. Stem-leaves small, some- 

 what cut. Stem, erect, 6 to 18 inches high, hairy, expanding at 

 the base into a bulbous shape. May to July. 



Very common and abundant in fields, growing with the 

 daisy, and associated with it in bouquets. This is the butter- 

 cup to most people. It is a weed, imported from Europe, 

 and troublesome to farmers. 



Tall Crowfoot or Buttercup 



R. acts. — Sepals, not turned back. Petals, longer than the 

 sepals, not so deep a yellow as the last. Flowers, large and showy. 

 Leaves, from the root, 3-divided, the divisions 3-cleft, sessile, all 

 deeply toothed. Lower leaves tufted at the root, on long, hairy 

 petioles; upper scattered on the stem, with short petioles or 

 none, 3-parted. Stem, rough, hairy, 2 or 3 feet high. May to 

 September. 



Common in Canada and the Eastern States. The stem 

 and leaves contain a peculiarly acrid juice. If they are bit- 

 ten into, the tongue and lips will be blistered in a painful 

 manner. Beggars use the juice to produce sores upon their 

 skin. Children picking them with moist hands will be 

 troubled with an irritating eruption. Cattle refuse to eat 

 them, hence they flourish in great numbers. When dried in 

 hay the acrid properties disappear. An undesirable impor- 

 tation from Europe. In England buttercups are called 

 kingcups, goldcups, butter-flowers, and blister-flowers. 



Marsh Marigold 



CMtha. palustris. — Family, Crowfoot. Color, yellow. Petals, 

 none. Calyx, petal-like of 5 to 9 golden-yellow, broad, round- 

 ish sepals. Stamens, many. Pistils, 5 to 10, making many- 

 seeded pods. Styles, mostly wanting. Stems, hollow and fur- 

 rowed, 1 to 2 feet high, weak, ascending. Leaves, mostly from 

 the root, but a few on the flower-stem. All large, rounded or 

 kidney-shaped, on fleshy petioles. April to June. 



Low, small, thickish herbs, among our earliest flowers to 

 appear. Under the incorrect name of cowslip these plants 



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