156 POLYANDRL\ POLYGYNIA. Ranunculus. 



Plant pale, shining green, juicy, smooth for the most part. Ls. 

 lower ones long-stalked, lobed, cut: upper Is,, segments linear, 

 entire. FI. numerous, small, palish yellow. Cal. bent back, 

 shaggy. Honey-pore somewhat tubular. Fruit cylindric, blunt, 

 seeds thick set. 



Plant variable in size, virulently acrid, blistering the skin to 

 cause a sore healed with difficulty. Used, it is said, by vagabonds 

 for the effects mentioned above, to cause compassion ; hence, per- 

 haps, its name scelerdtus, rascally. 



R. bulbSsus. Bulbous C. Butter-cups. Calyx bent 

 back. Flower-stalks furrowed. Stem upright, many- 

 flowered. Leaves compound. Root bulbous. Seeds 

 smooth. E. B. 515. C. 1. 38. G. E. 953. 



Pastures, meadoics, (jrass-plots, waste (jround. 



Per. May. 



One to one and a half f Ls. in threes, three-cleft. Fl. golden 

 yellow. Root solid, roundish bulb, with fibres springing from it. 

 Stems one or more, erect, one ft., branched above, round, hairy, 

 hollow, leafy. Ls. hairy, compound, three-cleft. Fl. large, 

 yellow, terminal, solitary. Cal.-ls. egg-shaped, concave, turning 

 back close to the stalk. Pet. roundish, notched at the end, con- 

 cave, varnished. Nect.-?,QdL\e inversely heart-shaped. Bulb for 

 the next year formed on the top of the old one. Plant acrid, 

 eaten hy cattle. Such acrid plants mixed wath the less pungent, 

 a useful stimulus, perhaps, supplied by nature in food of cattle. 

 Var.fl. double in gardens. 



R. hirsutus. Pale Hairy C. Calyx bent back, pointed. 

 Stem upright, many-flowered, hairy. Leaves three 

 parted. Root fibrous. Seeds tuberculated. E. B. 

 1504. C. 2. 40. 



Moist meadows, waste, or cultivated ground. * Southleigh Com- 

 mon. Sb. 



Per. June. 



Stems one or more, upright, branched, leafy, round, hollow. Ls. 

 hairy, pale, cut. Fl.-staJks hairy. Cal. rough with glandular 

 hairs. Pet. shining yellow. Neet. covei'ed with a scale. Seeds 

 compressed, margined, rough on both sides with sharp tubercles. 



R. repens. Creeping C Calyx spreading. Flower- 

 stalks furrowed. Scyons creeping. Leaves compound, 

 cut ; the uppermost entire. E. B. 516. C. 4. 38. 

 R. pratensis etiamque hortensis. G. E. 951. 



Meadows, moist pastures. 

 Per. June. 



Discrim. By its fibrous root, and long, creeping runners, from R. 

 bulbosus. Fl.-stems erect, branched, leafy. Ls. rather broader, 



