8 Muhlenbergia, Volume 6 



The genus Ranunculus is sparingly represented in Nevada, 

 but several species are found in favorable situations. They are 

 moisture loving plants, and are always found in permanently 

 damp places or come up and bloom in early spring while there 

 is an abundance of moisture. 



A near relative of R. glabcrrinius is R. oxynotus Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. 10: 68. 1874, which was originally collected in 

 "California near the summit of Castle Peak, Sierra County, at 

 9,000 feet, J. G. Lemmon." Castle Peak, however, is not in 

 Sierra county, but in Nevada county, and lies due north of Sum- 

 mit station on the Central Pacific railroad, distant some four or 

 five miles. This species has been found in Nevada on Mt. Rose 

 near Reno, at elevations of 9000 to 10800 feet, and in bloom 

 from June to October. It is partial to northerly slopes, and may 

 be looked for in the moist gravel or sand immediately below a 

 snow bank. A short distance below the snow may be found 

 well developed plants with open flowers and perhaps well devel- 

 oped heads of fruit, while on the very edge of the snow are 

 plants just appearing above ground, and others with opening 

 buds. It grows in a region where laggards have no place in the 

 economy of nature. Here the growing season is short, for spring 

 comes during either the midsummer or autumn time of the low- 

 lands, and the plants make the most of their few short weeks of 

 life. This species, like R. glaberrimus, has roundish root leaves, 

 but they are crenate rather than lobed, and the stem leaves have 

 more numerous and deeper lobes. 



R. digitatus Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 12. pi. 5. 1829, accord- 

 ing to Watson originally collected by Burke near Fort Hall in 

 southeastern Idaho, was found by Watson "on Alt. Tobin Range, 

 above Cumberland, Nevada." This place is not given on recent 

 maps, but is situated in Humboldt county southeast of Winne- 

 mucca. This species, according to the Synoptical Flora is dis- 

 tinguished from the ones mentioned above by the "radical leaves 

 either entire and lanceolate or, like the few subsessile cauline, 

 2-parted into oblong-lanceolate or almost linear lobes." It is 

 also an alpine or subalpine species, the elevation of the Nevada 

 station being given as 9000 feet. 



