6 ranu:nc UL ACE^. (crowfoot family.) 



M. ARiSTATUs, Benth., may be found where our boundary touches Utah 

 and Southern Idaho. It is characterized by its akenes being beaked with a 

 divergent persistent style nearly equalling the akene. 



5. RANUNCULUS, L. Crowfoot. Buttercup. 



Sepals usually 5. Petals 3 to 15. Akenes mostly flattened, pointed. — 

 Mostly perennial herbs. Flowers either solitary or somewhat corymbed, 

 usually yellow and often showy. The leaves are various, and those of the 

 stem alternate. 



§ 1. Aquatic herbs with the submersed leaves, if any, finely divided t petals 

 white, the claw yellow : akenes transversely wrinkled. 



1. R. aquatilis, L., var. trichophyllus, Chaix. Stems long and 

 coarsely filiform : leaves all submersed and cut into numerous soft capillary 

 segments, which usually collapse ichen withdrawn from the icater: akenes in a 

 close globular head. — Common throughout the continent in stagnant or slow- 

 flowing waters. 



Var. stagnatilis, DC. Leaves all under water, the divisions and sub- 

 divisions short, spreading in one roundish plane, rigid, keeping their form without 

 collapsing when withdrawn from the water. — The R. divaricatus of Gray's 

 Manual and the Western reports. Rarer than the former, but with the same 

 range. 



§ 2. Terrestrial kerbs, but often growing in wet places, mostly erect : sepals greeny 



rarely yellow : petals yellow: akenes neither icrinkled nor hispid. 



* All the leaves undivided, the margins entire. 



2. R. Flammula, L., var. reptans, Gray. Glabrous throughout : stems 

 filiform, creeping and rooting at the joints: leaves mostly lanceolate and acute 

 at each end : petals half longer than the sepals : akenes few in a small globu- 

 lar head, plump ; beak very short and curved. —Found in Colorado, but most 

 common northward, where it extends across the continent. 



3. R. alismsefolius, Geyer. Glabrous througliout : stems nearly or quite 

 erect, G to 16 inches high, rather stout: leaves broadly lanceolate, blunt at apex: 

 petals conspicuously nerved, nearly twice as long as the sepals: akenes slightly 

 fattened, pointed with a nearly or quite straight beak, crowded in a compact 

 ovate head. — The form called var. montamis, ^yatson, is the typical form. 

 Rocky Mountains and westward. The Eastern species bearing this name is 

 7?. amhigens, Watson. 



4. R. Macauleyi, Gray. Leaves Ungulate, the truncate apex 3-toothed ; 

 radical ones (early ones ohlong) tapering into a petiole; cauline ones sessile: 

 sepals very dark villous outside: petals golden: carpels tapering into a short 

 subulate style : fruit unknown, though head of akenes probably oblong. — 

 Proc. Am. Acad. xv. 45. Mountains in San Juan Co., Colorado. The flowers 

 resemble those of R. nivalis, but the remarkable foliage readily distinguishes 

 it from every other species. 



« * Radical leaves undivided: stem leaves, if any, toothed or lobed : glabrous 

 perennials, 3 to 6 inches high. 



5. R. Cymbalaria, Pursh. Flowering stems or scapes leafless, 1 to 

 7-flowered : leaves broadly ovate or ovate-cordate, coarsely crenate, clustered at 



