POLYAXDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Ranunculus. 51 



Annual. June — October. 



Root of many simple fibres. Herb very variable in luxuriance, of 

 a paler hue than most of this genus, and clothed with fine, 

 silky, spreading hairs. Lower leaves on long stalks, ternate, 

 lobed and cut ; icpper sessile, with 3, or more, narrower seg- 

 ments. Flower-stalks hairy, furrowed. Cal. pointed, finally 

 reflexed close to the stalk, and clothed with hairs glandular at 

 their base. Pet. of a golden yellow. Nect. covered with a scale. 

 Seeds compressed, bordered, rough on both sides, especially 

 towards the margin, with an irregular double or triple row of 

 small sharp prominences, first observed by Mr. E. Forster. These 

 clearly distinguish it from our other common Crowfoots, with 

 which it has been confounded ; and likewise prove the R. par- 

 vulus of Linnaeus and Fl. Br. to be but a starved variety of the 

 same species. 



10. R. repens. Creeping Crowfoot. 



Calyx spreading. Flower-stalks furrowed. Scyons creep- 

 ing. Leaves compound, cut ; the uppermost entire. 



R. repens, Linn. Sp. Pl.779. Willd. v. 2. 1325. H. Br. 592. Engl. 



Bot. V. 8. ^ 5 1 6. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4. t. 38. Mart. Rust. t. 29. 



Hook. Scot. 175. DeCand. Syst. v. 1. 285. Fl. Dan. t. 795. 



Bull. Fr. t. 77. 

 R. n. 1173. Hall.Hist.v.2.73. 

 R. pratensis repens. Raii Syn. 247. 

 R. pratensis etiamque hortensis. Ger. Em, 95 1 ./. 

 R. pratensis repens hirsutus. Bauh. Pin. 179. Moris, v. 2. 439. 



sect. 4..t.2S.f. 18. 

 Creeping and Thames Crowfoot. Pet.H. Brit. t. 38. f.7, 8. 



In meadows, moist pastures, and shady waste places in towns, 

 neglected gardens, &c., very common. 



Perennial. June — August. 



Root slightly tuberous, with stout fibres ; sending forth from its 

 crown long prostrate runners, which take root at every joint. 

 Stems erect or ascending, round, hairy, leafy, branching. Leaves 

 dark green, hairy, twice ternate ; the upper ones with wedge- 

 shaped, cut leafiets ; uppermost of all in 3 deep, lanceolate, 

 acute, entire lobes. Radical leaves often marked with a black 

 spot. Fl. bright yellow, like those of R. hulboaus, hirsutus, and 

 others, but the hairy calyx is spreading, not reflexed. Pet. 

 notched. Nect. covered with a notched scale. Seeds not gene- 

 rally perfected. A double variety is sometimes seen in gardens. 



11. R. aci'is. Upright Meadow Crowfoot. 



Calyx spreading. Flower-stalks round and even. Leaves 

 in three deep lobed and cut segments ; those of the up- 

 permost linear and entire. Stem erect, covered with 

 close hairs. 



b2 



