32 RANUNCULACE.E. Ranunculus. 



leaves equalling the flowers. A\ siiricomtis, var. C^ssut/ciis. E. Meyer. Vl Lab. 9C. - 

 Labriidor and Lower Canada to prairies of Wisconsin and N. lUmois, Saskatcliewau, and 

 the N. Kocky Mountains, lat. 52°-55°.i 



b. Pacific coiuit species, hvrge-flowered, king-styled, thickishrootcd perennial. 

 R Blooraeri, Watson. Ghibrous or sometimes sp:u-sely villous or hir.^ute: stems ascend- 

 "in.T from a f Jcicle of thickened fibrous roots, a foot or two long, robust, si)arsely flowered : 

 leaves bright green and lucid, coarsely dentate or incised ; radical long-pet ioled, some 

 broadly cordate or ovate and incisely crenate-dontate or ol)scurely lobed (2 inches h.ng), 

 some 3-parted, some 3-foliolate with the leaflets petioliilate and the terminal one even,3-lobed ; 

 cauluie not very dissimilar, siiort-petioled : petals half inch long, emarginate : akenes turgid, 

 2 lines long, glabrous, tipped with a slender subulate beak. — Bot. Calif, ii. 426. R. Chileiisix, 

 Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beech. 134 ? not 4. — Low grounds, about San Francisco Bay ; first coll. 

 bv Bloomer. 



c. Chiefly e:istern or cosmopolite, small-flowered, few-stamened, very short-styled; with 



compressed and small beakless or very short-beaked or (in R. Allejjheniensis) hook-styled 



akenes : stems erect and branching. 



R. abortivus, L. Biennial or short-lived perennial, slender, a foot or two high, generally 



quite glabrous and lucid, occasioually pubescent: radical leaves or most of them roumi- 



reniforin or oblate subcordate an(i simjdy or doubly crenate; canline once or twice 3-parted 



or divided into oblong or linear divisions: petals pale yellow, usually Jiot over a line long 



and sliorter than the calyx : akenes lenticular, glabrous, in small globular or ovoid head. — 



Spec. i. 5.51 ; Walt. Car' 159; DC. Syst. i. 268; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 19. ■ R. nitidus, Walt. 



I.e.; Poir. Diet. vi. 126. — Moist woods and along streamlets, Newfoundland 2 to Florida, 



Arkansas, and the mountains of Colorado, northwestward to the head-waters of Fraser 



Kiver, &c. in Brit. Columbia ; fl. spring. Passes freely into 



Var. micranthus, Grat.-' Slightly or conspicuously villous: some or most of 

 radical leaves 3-partcd, some 3-foliolate and leaflets even slender-petiolulate. — Man. ed. 5, 

 42. R. micranthus, Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, FL i. 18; Elngelm. Am. Journ. Sci. xlvi. 94.— 

 Massachusetts to Saskatchewan and Colorado. 



Var. Harveyi, Gray. Somewhat pubescent : leaves, &c. of the type or of the preced- 

 ing variety : petals conspicuous, 3 lines long, very much surpassing the calyx ! — Proc. Am. 

 Acad. xxi. 372.' — On damp rocks, common in Arkan.sas, F. L. llarvei/. Dr. Hasse.^ 

 R * AUegheniensis, Britton. Habit and foliage closely as in the typical form of the 

 Vreceding species : stMU glaucous, not lucid : akenes a little larger and flatter, slightly 

 margined dorsally or at least toward the apex, and provided with a well developed and 

 strono-lv recurved style; the latter a third as long as the akenes. —Bull. Torr. Club, xxii. 

 224. "'/i. abortivus, form, Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 15. — Mountains of North Carolina and 

 Virginia, Britten, IJeller ; E. Massachusetts, at Waverly, Fernald, (Jreenman, Schrenk; 

 Woburn' Robinson; Cambridge, Deane. Intermediate stations in the Middle States will 

 doubtless be found as soon as the plant is generally distinguished fr.nn the hal.itally simih.r 

 R. abortivus, of which it may yet prove only an extreme variation, as regarded t>v s.r 

 William Hooker. 



1 Black Hills, S. Dak., Fiirwood. 



2 Labrador, Waghorne, 



8 This variety has been recently restored to specific rank by Mr. E. P. Bicknell (Bidl. Torr. Club, 

 xxi. 41), and among other distinctions attention is called to tlie usually glabrous receptacle, that of 

 the typical R. abortivus bcinf? in.spid. While in their extremes the two plants appear quite diff'erent, 

 dubious intermediates are not lacking. The variety extends to Gaspi^ Ji'le Mucoim. 

 • 4 Add. syn. R. abortivus, var. grandiflonis, Engelni. ace. to Branner & Coville,, Ark. Geol. Sm v. 

 iv, 162; Harvey, Bull. Torr. Club, xix. 93. R. Harveyi, Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, v. 159; GreeiiH, 

 Erythea, ii. 189. The specific distinctions, adduced by Prof. Greene from the akenes do not appear 

 to hold, 'since in some specimens of the small- flowered typical form the akenes are in a globular head 

 and when mature are quite as large and no more numerous. Nor is Ihe difference of the roots more 

 constant or significant. Regarding the size of the petals some of Dr. Hasse's specimens preserved in 

 the Nat. Hnrbarinm furnish transition to the smaller-flowered form. 

 6 Also common in S. Mi.'ssouri, ranging to St. Louis, Hasse, Bush. 



