60 THE BANUNCiriiUS TAMILT. 



a. Floatinq water B. (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2870.) All the leaves sub- 

 merged and finely cut, the segments long and parallel. Flowers large, on 

 long stalks. — Chiefly in running streams. 



b. Capillary water R. (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2869.) All the leaves sub- 

 merged and finely cut, but with shorter segments spreading in every direc- 

 tion. Flowers large. — Chiefly in deep still waters. 



c. Common mater B. (Eng. Bot. t. 101.) Lower leaves submerged and 

 finely cut ; upper leaves floating, rounded and broadly lobed. Flowers very 

 variable in size. — The commonest state of the plant, passing into all the 

 other varieties. 



d. Iiy xoater B. (B. hederaceus, Eng. Bot. t. 2003.) All the leaves float- 

 ing or spread on the mud, rounded and broadly lobed. Flowers very small. 

 Carpels and receptacle quite or nearly glabrous, wlidst in the preceding 

 varieties there are often hairs, at least on the receptacle. — In shallow water 

 and mud. The R. coenosus is the same variety, with flowers twice as large, 

 and the R. tripartitus comprises several forma intermediate between these 

 two and the common variety.* 



2. Great Ranunculus. Ranunculus Iiiugua, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 100. Great Spearioort.) 



Eootstock emitting a dense mass of fibrous roots, and perennial by means 

 of creeping runners. Stems erect, stout, and hollow, 2 or 3 feet high, the 

 lower nodes emitting whorls of fibrous roots. Leaves long, lanceolate, entire 

 or with only a few small teeth at the edge, glabrous, witli a few nearly paral- 

 lel veins. Flowers above an ir.ch in diameter, in a kind of loose panicle ; the 

 petals of a bright sliining yellow. Carpels enduig in a short broad flat 

 beak. 



In marshes, wet ditches, and on the edges of lakes, over the greater pait of 

 Europe and Asia, but not an Arctic plant. Pretty frequent, though by no 

 means general in England, Ireland, and Scotland, as far north as Moray. 

 Fl. summer. 



3. Spear Ranunculus. Ranunculus Flammula, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 387. Spearioort.) 



A glabrous perennial of short duration, or frequently only annual, much 

 smaller and more slender than the great R. Stems usually more or less de- 

 cumbent at the base, and rooting at the lower joints, seldom above a foot 

 high, with a few loose branches. Lowest leaves often ovate, the remainder 

 lanceolate or linear, and all entire or slightly toothed. Flowers yellow, on 

 long peduncles, seldom more than lialf an inch in diameter, and often much 

 smaller. Carpels in a small globidar head, each with a very short, usually 

 hooked beak. 



In marshes and wet pastures, and on the borders of lakes and ponds, 

 common throughout Europe, except perhaps the southern extremity, ex- 

 tending all over Russian Asia, and, at high latitudes, into North America. 

 Abundant in Britain. Ft. the whole summer. It varies much in the size of 

 its parts, the breadth of the leaves, etc. ; and a not uncommon form, with 

 slender creeping stems and small flowers, has been published as a species 

 under the name of R. reptans. 



* For further details on the proposed species of water Ttanunculus, see Bahington's 

 ' Manual,' 4th edit. pp. 5 to 8, where characters are given for twelve. 



