HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



By the REV. H. PUREFOY FITZGERALD, F.L.S. 

 With Photographs by HENRY IRVING 



THE MEADOW FLOWERS 



THE BUTTERCUPS 



FIRST and foremost among the 

 meadow flowers must be placed 



the Buttercups, and of those 

 there are four different kinds, which 

 can be easily distinguished from each 

 other. The Bulbous Buttercup (RaiiiDi- 

 citlus bulbosiis) is so called because the 

 stem is usually 

 thickened at the 

 base into a sort of 

 bulb ; the flower 

 stalks are fur- 

 rowed and hairy, 

 while the green 

 sepals at the back 

 o f the yellow 

 petals bend back- 

 wards towards the 

 stalk when the 

 flower expands. 

 The Hairy Butter- 

 cup {Raniinciilns 

 hirsiitns) also has 

 the sepals of the 

 expanded flower 

 bent back, but the 

 roots are fibres, 

 and there is no 

 trace of a bulbous 

 thickening. 



The Creeping 

 Buttercup {Ra- 

 nunculus repens), 

 as the name im- 

 plies, sends out 

 run ne.rs in the 

 same way as the 

 Strawberry does, 

 from among the 

 lower leaves, which 

 take r o ot very 

 rapidly and form 



38 



fresh plants. Neither in this species nor 

 in the Common Buttercup {Runnnculiis 

 acris) do the sepals bend back towards 

 the flower stalk, but the creeping habit 

 of the former will readily distinguish it 

 from the latter. 



The Common Buttercup is generally 

 one of the tallest of the race, sometimes 



THE CHEEPING BUTTERCUP 



28 X 



