156 



RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 



EARLY BUTTERCUP 



Ranunculus fascicularis, Muhl. 



Other English names: Early Crowfoot, Tufted buttercup. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : April to May. 



Seed-time: Late May to July. 



Range: New England and Ontario to Manitoba, southward to the 



Carolinas, Texas, and Arkansas. 

 Habitat : Hillsides ; upland fields and pastures. 



The earliest of the Buttercups ; it springs from a tuft or bundle 

 of roots, which look as though meant to be fibrous but are thickened 

 and fleshy. Stems tufted, six inches to a 

 foot high, the whole plant covered with fine, 

 silky, close-pressed hairs. Leaves small, 

 three-parted, the terminal segment long- 

 stalked and again thrice divided ; the peti- 

 oles slender. Flowers almost an inch 

 broad, glossy yellow, often with more than 

 five petals, which are spatulate and much 

 longer than the spreading calyx. Seed- 

 head globose, each achene tipped with a 

 curved and awl-like beak about as long 

 as itself. (Fig. 106.) 



Means of control 



The hilly nature of the ground on which 

 this weed grows best very often forbids its 

 cultivation because the fertile top soil is in 

 danger of washing down the slopes. But 



F IG . 106. Early But- ca ttle reject the plant, the seeds mature 



tercup (Ranunculus fasti- and scatter, and the weed gradually en- 

 cularis). x*. croaches until the turf is ruined. The 



best remedy is deep hoe-cutting in the first days of bloom. 



Native and introduced. 



stolons. 

 Time of bloom: May to July 



CREEPING BUTTERCUP 

 Ranunculus ripens, L. 



Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by 



