CROWFOOT FAMILY 



RANUNCULACEAE 



YELLOW WATER CROWFOOT 



Ranunculus delphinifolius Torr. 



Water plants are as a rule rather widely distributed, 

 due in part to the fact that birds which frequent ponds 

 fly from one to another carrying mud, containing seeds 

 or fruits, on their feet. 



This plant is found from Maine to Oregon 

 and south to North Carolina and Arkansas. 

 The stems are either floating or immersed, 

 or occasionally creeping in the mud. They 

 sometimes grow several feet long, branching 

 frequently and often rooting at the joints. 

 The leaves below the surface of the water are 

 like the one shown; those above water are 

 less finely divided. 



The greenish sepals of the flowers, which 



are raised above the water, are much smaller 



than the 5-8 deep yellow petals. 



Stamens and pistils are numerous 



and the fruits are akenes. 



The Common White Water Crow- 

 foot, Ranunculus aquatilis L. var. 

 capillaceus DC, trequents ponds and 

 slow-running streams. Its white 



flowers are produced at the surface of 

 the water, and its leaves, all under 

 water, are divided and subdivided into 

 long soft threadlike parts which collapse 

 more or less when withdrawn from the water. 



The Stiff" Water Crowfoot, Ranunculus circinatus Sibth., com- 

 pletes the trio of water plants in this family found in Illinois. ' The 

 leaves are under water, sessile and with broad stipules. The divisions 

 of this leaf are short and spreading into a circle, and they do not 

 collapse when withdrawn from the water. 



The Oblong-leaved Spearwort, Ranunculus oblongifolius Ell., is 

 a peculiar plant of stagnant ponds, ditches and small sluggish 

 streams of southern Illinois below Saline county. The erect stem is 

 1 feet high and much branched above. Leaves are slightly toothed 

 to entire, the lower very long stalked, and vary from linear above to 

 ovate-oblong below. The bright yellow 5-petalled flowers are less 

 than one-half inch broad. Stamens are less than 20 and the globular 

 fruits are about one-eighth inch in diameter. This is a coast plant 

 from Delaware to Florida and Texas, ascending the Mississippi 

 basin to Missouri and Illinois. 



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