40 RAXUNCULACE.E. ( CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



1. T. palmata, Fischer & Meyer. (Cimicifuga palmata, Michx.) Woods, 

 along streams, Virginia and Kentucky along the mountains : also sparingly in 

 Ohio and Illinois. July, Aug. — Koot-leaves large, 5 - 9-lobed ; the lobes 

 toothed and cut. Stems 2° -3° high. 



6. RANUNCULUS, L. Crowfoot. Buttercup. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, flat, with a little pit or scale at the base inside. Achenia 

 numerous, in a head, mostly flattened, pointed ; the seed erect. — Annuals or 

 perennials : stem-leaves alternate. Flowers solitary or somewhat corymbed, 

 yellow, rarely white. (Sepals and petals rarely only 3, the latter often more 

 than 5. Stamens occasionally few in number.) — (A Latin name for a little 

 frog ; applied by Pliny to these plants, the aquatic species growing where frogs 

 abound.) 



§ 1. BATRACHIUM, DC. — Petals ivith a spot or naked pit at the base, white, 

 or only the claw yellow : achenia marcjinless, transversely wrinkled: aquatic peren- 

 nials, with the immersed foliage repeatedly dissected (mostly by threes) into capil- 

 lary divisions : peduncles \-fiowered. 



1. R. divaricatus, Schrank. (Stiff Water-Crowfoot.) Leaves all 

 under water and sessile or nearly so, the divisions and subdivisions short, 

 spreading in one roundish plane, rigid, keeping their form without collapsing when 

 withdrawn from the water. (R. circinatus, Sibthorp.) — Ponds and slow streams, 

 northward and westward, much rarer than the next. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



2. R. aquatilis, L., var. trichophyllus, Chaix. (Common White 

 Water-Crowfoot.) Leaves all under water and mostly petioled, their capil- 

 larv divisions and subdivisions rather long and soft, usually collapsing more or less 

 when withdrawn from the water. — Common, especially in slow-flowing waters. 

 June -Aug. (Eu.) 



"Var. heterophyllus, DC. (Floating W.) Uppermost leaves floating, 



rounded and 3-5-lobed, the lobes wedge-shaped, (R. aquatilis, Bigel, ed. 3.) — 



Roxbury and Newton, near Boston, Bigelow ; but not met with for many years : 



was possibly introduced from Europe, where this form is common. 



§ 2. RANUNCULUS proper. Petals with a little scale at the base (yellow). 



* Achenia smooth. 



«- Aquatic, perennial: immersed leaves Jiliformly dissected, as in the preceding. 



3. R. multifidus, Pursh. (Yellow Water-Crowfoot.) Stems 

 floating or immersed, with the leaves all repeatedly 3-forked into long filiform 

 divisions, or sometimes creeping in the mud, the emersed leaves with shorter 

 and linear or wedge-shaped divisions, or else kidney-shaped and sparingly 

 lobed or toothed; flower deep bright yellow, J'-l' in diameter; petals 5-8, 

 much larger than the calyx ; carpels in a round head, pointed with a straight 

 beak. (R. lacustris, Bafc <V Vraey, and R. Purshii, Richards, both in the year 

 1823. R. Gmelini, DC. (1818) is an older name, belonging to a small north- 

 ern form of the species; but R. mnltifidus, Pursh, is the oldest, 1814, and 

 apparently free for use.) Eastern New England to Blinois and northward. 

 May- July. — Out of water it is often pubescent, especially in 



