Planche 15. 



Renoneulae6es. 



Genre Renonculc. 



Les plantes de la famille des Renoncula- 

 c6es se distinguent par les caracteres generaux 

 suivants: Leur sue est acre, parfois inSme ve- 

 neneux; elles constituent par consequent un 

 inauvais fourrage pour le bet ail. Les fleurs 

 ont de nombreuses etamines inserees sur 1'axe 

 floral, ce qui permet de les distinguer des Ro- 

 ssacees chex lesquelles elles sortent du calice. 

 Au milieu de la fleur, de nombreux pistils se- 

 pares forment un petit bouton vert. Parmi 

 les especes figurees dans la planche ci-jointc, 

 on ne rencontre dans le Nord que R. glacialis 

 et aconitifolius. 



Fig. 1. Renoncule des montagnes. Se 



distingue <1u Renoncule acer de la plaine, qu'il 

 rcmplace dans les Alpes, par les poils sur 1'axe 

 floral et la tige solide non creuse. 



Commun sur des pres et paturages frais de 

 la region montagneuse jusqua'a 1 region alpine. 



Fig. 2. Renoncule alpestre. Plante pen 

 elevee, tout a -fait glabre, feuilles luisantes, a 

 nervures profondement, creusees a la face su- 

 perieure. Tige haute de 5 a 10 cm portant 

 generalement une, quelquefois deux a trois 

 tleurs, feuilles caulinaires entifires. 



Au bord des taches de neige fondantes, pa- 

 turages humides, rochers arroses, de 1500 a 

 2600 m. 



Fig. 3. Renoncule a feuilles d'aconit. Plante 

 de 30 a 90 cm de hauteur, a tiges ramifiees 

 portant plusieurs fleurs et a feuilles radicales 

 ct caulinaires palmisequees. 



Pres humides ou niarecageux, terrains gras, 

 bords des ruisseaux, de la region des collines 

 jusqu'a 2200 m. 



Fig. 4. Renoncules a feuilles de Parnassie. 

 Feuilles radicales ovales - cordiformes, a ner- 

 vures saillantes, poilues en dessus. Calico et 

 pedoncules velus. 



Eboulis, moraines, de 2300 a 2900 m, rare. 



Fig. 5. Renoncule des Pyrenees. Cette es- 

 pece se distingue des autres renoncules alpines 

 a fleurs blanches par ses feuilles lineaires, un 

 peu glauques; calice glabre. 



Paturages humides, de 1800 a 2700 m. 



Fig. 6. Renoncule des glaciers. Calice re- 

 convert de poils brunatres ou noiratres. Corolle 

 blanche ou d'un rose-pourpre plus ou moins 

 prononce, sur tout a 1'exterieur. Plante glabre 

 ou peu velue. 



Eboulis, rochers, gazons des cimes et crfites 

 les plus elevees, de 2300 a 4270 m (Finster- 

 aarhorn). 



Plate 15. 

 Crowfoots. 



Genus Ranunculus. 



The family of the Crowfoots is marked by 

 the following general characteristics the sap is 

 acrid, often even poisonous ; they therefore form 

 bad food plants for cattle. The flowers have 

 numerous stamens having their insertion on the 

 axis of the flower, not on the calyx (difference 

 from the Rose family); the carpels are also 

 numerous and separate, forming in the middle 

 of the flower a small green knob. Ranunculus 

 glacialis and R. aconitifolius are the only two 

 species, of those here illustrated, which are 

 found in the North, the latter only in Scan- 

 dinavia, the former also in Iceland, Greenland 

 and America. 



Fig. 1. Mountain Buttercup. Differing from 

 the common acrid crowfoot (Ranunculus acria L.) 

 of the plains, which it replaces in the Alps in 

 the hairy discs of its seeds (if one tears out the 

 seeds one by one the hairs of the disc are usu- 

 ally torn out at the same time!) and in its solid 

 (not hollow) stem, widely distributed on 

 meadows and pastures, from the mountain 

 region upwards to the Alpine region. 



Fig. 2. Alpine Crowfoot. Plant quite hair- 

 less low; stem 1 3 flowered, 6 10 cm high; 

 leaves glossy, on the upper side with deeply 

 sunken ribs. Leaves of the stalk undivided. 



On the margin of melting snow fields, on 

 rather damp pastures, on glacier soil, on dripping 

 rocks, common from 150U 2700 m. 



Fig. 3. Aconite-leaved Crowfoot. A plant 

 of 30 90 cm in height, with branched many- 

 tiowered stein and with palmate root and stem- 

 leaves. 



Damp swampy meadows, banks of brooks 

 Lager" etc., from the hill country up to 

 2600 m. The closely allied R. platanifolius L. 

 has leaves which are not divided down to the 

 leaf-stalk and the lobes of the upper stemleaves 

 are not serrated. 



Fig. 4. Grass of Parnassus-leaved Crowfoot. 

 Radical leaves cordate-oviform, with strong ribs 

 hairy on the upper side, bluish-green, calyx and 

 flowerstalk hairy. 



Rocky debris, moraines etc., rare, from 

 2300-2900 m. 



Fig. 5. Pyrenean Crowfoot. Easily known 

 from other white flowering Crowfoot-species by 

 its grasslike, narrow, rather bluish-green leaves; 

 calyx not hairy. 



On damp meadows, often in great numbers, 

 from 18002700 m. 



Fig. 6. Glacier Crowfoot. Calyx with thick 

 tufts of reddishbrown-blackish hairs; corolla 

 white or red especially on the out side; calyx 

 persisting after the flower has faded (R. glacialis 

 differs from all other species of Crowfoot in 

 this characteristic). Plant smooth or covered 

 with cobweb-like hairs. 



Stony debris, fissures in the rocks, grassy 

 places on the highest argtes and summits, from 

 about 23004270 m; they are the highest 

 mounting flowering plants of Switzerland and 

 have been found within a short distance of the 

 summit of the Finsteraarhorn. 



