792 RANUNCULUS. Lclass xiii. order lU. 



Habitat. — Sides of rills on the Clove Moimtains, Scolland. — Mr. 

 G. Don. 

 Perennial ; flowering in May. 



This species is extremely rare with us, hut in the Alpine districts of 

 the Continent is not very common. 



10. R. auri'comus, Linn. (Fig. 904.) Wood Crotvfoot. Eadical 

 leaves roundish heart-shaped, three-partite, the segments cut and 

 cvenated, those of the stem cut to the base into linear entire or toothed 

 segments ; peduncles round ; calyx hairy ; carpels numerous, in a 

 round head, ovate, downy, with a hooked beak. 



English Botany, t. 624. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 48. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 219. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 10. 



Root of very numerous branched fibres. Stems mostly two from the 

 same root, erect, branched above, round, smooth, and leafy, many 

 flowered. Leaves smooth, or slightly downy, the radical ones not very 

 numerous, roundish heart-shaped, three-cleft, with cut and crenated or 

 toothed segments, footstalk long, channeled, those of the stem sessile, 

 cut to the base into linear entire or toothed spreading segments, 

 smooth, paler beneath, and veiny. Flowers not very numerous, of a 

 bright golden yellow, each on a slender round mostly hairy peduncle. 

 Calyx of five ovate yellow spreading downy pieces. Petals five, 

 roundish ovate, sometimes wanting. Stamens numerous, with linear 

 filaments, and yellow oblong anthers. Carpels numerous, collected into 

 a round head, ovate, or roundish, somewhat compressed, downy, with a 

 narrow margin, the beak slender, hooked. 



Habitat. — Woods and shady places ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in April and May. 



The Wood Crowfoot, or Goldilocks, as they are sometimes called, is 

 a far less acrid plant than many others of the genus. The flowers are 

 sometimes found without petals, but in such plants the calyx segments 

 are larger, and seem to supply the place of the petals. 



11. i?. a'cris, Linn. (Fig. 905.) Upright Meadow Croivfoot. Leaves 

 three-partite, the radical ones lobed and cut, the petiole long and 

 channeled, the upper with linear segments; stem erect, many flowered, 

 with rounded peduncles; carpels numerous, in a round head, lenti- 

 cular, compressed, the beak very short ; calyx spreading. 



English Botany, t. 662. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 52. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed.4. vol. i. p. 219. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 11. 



Root of numerous long fibres, often from a tuberous base. Stem, 

 erect, from one to two feet high, branched and leafy, round, hollow, 

 and more or less clothed with slender hairs. Leaves mostly hairy, the 

 radical ones with long spreading channeled footstalks, dilated, and 

 somewhat sheathing at the base, three-partite, the segments deeply 

 lobed and cut, often they are palmato-partite, the upper leaves in 

 three linear segments. Flotvers numerous, a bright golden yellow, the 



