42 RANUNCULACE^E. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



rather fleshy, long-petioled ; petals 5 - 8 ; carpels striate on the sides. Sandy 

 shores, from New Jersey northward, and along the Great Lakes to Illinois and 

 westward : also at salt springs. June - Aug. 

 H- H- -t- - Terrestrial, but often in wet places : root perennial : some or all of the 



leaves cleft or divided. 

 *+ Root-leaves not divided to the very base. 



9. R. rhomboideilS, Goldie. Dwarf, hairy ; root-leaves roundish or 

 rhombic-ovate, rarely subcordate, toothed or crenate ; lowest stem-leaves similar 

 or 3 - 5-lobed ; the upper 3 - 5-parted, almost sessile, the lobes linear ; carpels 

 orbicular with a minute beak, in a spherical head ; petals large, exceeding the calyx. 

 (Also K. brevicaulis & ovalis, Hook.) Prairies, Michigan to Illinois and 

 northward. April, May. Stems 3' - 6' high, sometimes not longer than the 

 root-leaves. Flower deep yellow, as large as in No. 14. 



10. R. abortivus, L. (SMALL-FLOWERED C.) Glabrous and very 

 smooth; primary root-leaves round heart-shaped or kidney-form, barely crenate, 

 the succeeding ones often 3-lobed or 3-parted ; those of the stem and branches 

 3 _ 5-parted or divided, subsessile ; their divisions oblong or narrowly wedge- 

 form, mostly toothed ; carpels in a globular head, mucronate with a minute curved 

 beak; petals shorter than the rejlexed calyx. Shady hillsides and along brooks, 

 common. April -June. Stem erect, 6' -2 high, at length branched above, 

 the pale yellow flowers very small in proportion. 



Var. micranthus. Pubescent; root-leaves seldom at all heart-shaped, 

 some of them 3-parted or 3-divided ; divisions of the upper stem-leaves more 

 linear and entire; peduncles more slender. (R. micranthus, Nutt.) Massa- 

 chusetts (near Boston, C. J. Sprague), Michigan, Illinois, and westward. 



11. R. sceleratus, L. (CURSED C.) Smooth and glabrous ; root-leaves 

 3-lobed, rounded ; lower stem-leaves 3-parted, the lobes obtusely cut and toothed, 

 the uppermost almost sessile, with the lobes oblong-linear and nearly entire ; 

 carpels barely mucronulate, very numerous, in oblong or cylindrical heads ; petals 

 scarcely exceeding the calyx. Wet ditches : appearing as if introduced. June - 

 Aug. Stem thick and hollow, 1 high. Leaves thickish. Juice acrid and 

 blistering. Flowers small, pale yellow. (Eu.) 



12. R. recurvatUS, Poir. (HOOKED C.) Hirsute; leaves of the root and 

 stem nearly alike, long-petioled, deeply 3-cleft, large ; the lobes broadly wedge- 

 shaped, 2 - 3-cleft, cut and toothed towards the apex ; carpels in a globular head, 

 flat and margined, conspicuously beaked by the long and recurved hooked styles; 

 petals shorter than the rejlexed calyx, pale. Woods, common. May, June. 

 Stem l-2 high. 



+ +* All the leaves ternately divided to the very base, or compound, and the divisions 



cleft or cut: acheniajlat. 

 a. Head of carpels oblong: petals pale, not exceeding the calyx. 



13. R. Pennsylvanicus, L. (BRISTLY C.) Hirsute with rough 

 spreading bristly hairs ; stem stout, erect ; divisions of the leaves stalked, 

 somewhat ovate, unequally 3-cleft, sharply cut and toothed, acute ; carpels 

 pointed with a sharp straight beak. Wet places, common. June -Aug. 

 A coarse plant, 2 - 3 high, with inconspicuous flowers. 



