SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 43 



(3) Ranunculus. CROWFOOT. 



* Flowers ivJiite ; (aquatics.) 



B. aquatilis: plant floating; leaves capillary below three- 

 parted above water, the lobes wedge-shaped and toothed ; car- 

 pels transversely wrinkled. Ponds, ditches, and streams. Fl. 

 May, June. 



There are several plants more or less closely resembling 

 this, which are by some regarded as mere varieties, induced by 

 varied conditions of growth. 



** Flowers yellow ; (terrestrial plants.) 

 t Leaves undivided, angulate. 



B. Ficaria: rootstock with many oblong tubers; leaves 

 mostly radical, heart-shaped, angulate, smooth, often mottled ; 

 flowers yellow, glossy ; petals variable, usually 8 or 9. Pile- 

 wort or Lesser Celandine. Damp shady places. Fl. April. 



ft Leaves deeply cut. 



B. auricomus : stem erect, many-flowered ; leaves smooth, 

 three-cleft, the leaflets notched ; flowers large, bright yellow ; 

 carpels downy. Goldilocks. Woods and coppices. Fl. April, 

 May. 



B. bulbosus : stem bulb-like at the base, erect, many-flow- 

 ered ; leaves hairy, three-cleft, with trifid cut segments ; 

 flowers large bright-yellow, the calyx-lobes reflexed ; carpels 

 smooth. Buttercups. Meadows and pastures. Fl. May. 



B. repens : stems producing creeping shoots ; leaves hairy, 

 three-cleft, with lobed or toothed segments; flowers large, 

 bright yellow, the calyx-lobes spreading; carpels smooth. 

 Buttercups. Meadows and pastures. Fl. May to August. 



B. parviflorus : annual ; stem prostrate or ascending ; leaves 

 hairy, the lower 5 the upper 3-5 -lobed, the segments lobed ; 



