SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 185 



segments ; flowers bright scarlet, with a dark spot at the base 

 of the petals ; carpels numerous, collected in ovate or oblong 

 heads. Cornfields. Fl. July or October. 



A variety with larger flowers is cultivated in flower-gardens, 

 under the name of Flos Adonis. 



(4) Ranunculus. CROWFOOT. 

 * Flowers white ; (aquatic plants) . 



B. hederaceus : plant floating or spreading on mud ; leaves 

 roundish, ivy-like, with 3-5 broad, shallow lobes ; flowers 

 very small, white ; carpels and receptacle glabrous. Shallow 

 water and mud. Fl. July, August. 



** Flowers yellow ; (terrestrial plants) . 

 t Leaves simple or undivided. 



B. Lingua : stem erect, hollow, 2-3 feet high ; leaves long, 

 lanceolate, smooth, entire, or with only a few small teeth at 

 the edge; flowers in a loose panicle, large, the petals bright 

 shining yellow ; carpels with a short, broad, flat beak. Great 

 Spearwort. Marshes and ditches. Fl. July. 



B. Flammula : stems more or less reclining at the base, 

 1-1 \ foot high, with a few loose branches ; lowest leaves ovate, 

 the remainder lanceolate or linear, nearly entire ; flowers yel- 

 low, on long peduncles, seldom more than half an inch in dia- 

 meter, often much smaller ; carpels with a very short, usually 

 hooked beak. Spearwort. Marshes and wet pastures. Fl. 

 June to August. 



Var. reptans: stems slender, creeping ; flowers much smaller. 



ft Leaves deeply cut. 



% Carpels smooth, that is, having an even surface. 

 Leaves smooth, not hairy. 



B. sceleratus : annual, erect, branched, about one foot high, 



