396 RANUKCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY} 



surpassing the sepals ; stamens 3-10 ; carpels very turgid, smooth or slightly 

 papillose, tipped with a minute sessile stigma. Wet places, near the coast, 

 s. N. Y. to Fla. and Tex., n. in the Miss, basin to Mo. and Tenn. Apr.-Sept. 



4- H- -i- H- Terrestrial, but often in wet places ; leaves mostly cleft or divided. 



+- Boot-leaves (or most of them} not divided to the very base ; achenes 



marginless. 



= Carpels in a globose head, upon a turgid subglobose receptacle. 



13. R. rhomboideus Goldie. (DWARF B.) Low (1-2 dm. high), 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 obovate with a minute beak, in a globose head ; petals large, 

 deep yellow. (B. ovalis Raf. ?) Prairies and dry hills, w. Que. to Mich., la., 

 and northw. Apr., May. 



= = Carpels in an ovoid or cylindric head, on an elongated receptacle. 



a. Stigma essentially sessile. 

 1. Boot-leaves all 3-parted or -lobed ; the lobes again lobed or toothed. 



14. R. sceleratus L. (CURSED C.) Annual, 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 ellipsoidal or cylindrical heads ; petals 

 scarcely exceeding the calyx. Wet ditches and bogs ; sometimes appearing as if 

 introduced. June-Aug. Stem thick and hollow ; juice acrid and blistering ; 

 leaves thickish ; flowers small, pale yellow. (Eu.) 



2. Most or all of the root-leaves merely crenate. 



15. R. micranthus Nutt. Villous; roots often fusiform-thickened, fascicu- 

 late ; root-leaves for the most part broadly obovate, scarcely if at all cordate at 

 the base, some of them 3-parted or pedately 3-divided ; the cauline subsessile, 

 divided into 3(-5) narrowly oblong leaflets ; flowers very small ; petals incon- 

 spicuous, light yellow ; receptacle glabrous. (B. abortivus, var. Gray.) Open 

 deciduous woods, s. Me. to the Sask. , and south w. 



16. R. abortivus L. (SMALL-FLOWERED C.) Biennial, slightly succulent ; 

 stem 1.5-6 dm. high, covered with a short sparse sometimes fugacious pubes- 

 cence ; primary root-leaves round-heart-shaped with a wide shallow sinus or 



kidney-form, barely crenate, the succeeding often 3-lobed or 



<b 3-parted ; those of the stem and branches 3-5-parted or divided, 



Hjjjr subsessile, the divisions oblong or narrowly wedge-form, mostly 



724. K. abortivus. toothed ; petals pale yellow, shorter than the small reflexed calyx ; 



Carpel x 4 1 / receptacle villous ; carpels minute, merely mucronulate. Shady 



hillsides and along brooks, common. Apr.-June. FIG. 724. 

 Var. eiicyclus Fernald. Stem slender, flexuous, not succulent ; root-leaves 

 larger (often 5-6 cm. broad), orbicular, deeply cordate with a narrow sinus, 

 thin. Rich low woods, N. B. and Que. to Ct. 



b. Stigma borne on a distinct at first straightish at length more or less re- 

 curved style. 



17. R. alleghenie'nsis Britton. Habit and foliage closely as in B. aborti- 

 vus; stem glaucous; petals minute, pale yellow; achenes pro- 

 vided with a distinct recurved beak. Moist places in rich woods, 



e. Mass, to Vt., e. N. Y., and south w. to N. C., locally abundant. 

 FIG. 725. 



18. R. HarvSyi (Gray) Britton. Also with the habit and 725 ' 

 foliage of B. abortivus; root a fascicle of fusiform fibers; c eU j B1H ' 4l / 

 petals 5-8, oblong, 5-7 mm. in length, much larger than in 



the related species preceding ; achenes tipped with a weak straightish beak 

 (B. abortivus, var. Gray.) Rocky ground, s. Mo. (Bush) and Ark. 



