110 NATIVE VARIETIES OF RANUNCULUS 



specimen with eleven petals and five sepals, the petals slightly 

 overlapping each other sideways, and making a neat symmetrical 

 whorl, also another with ten in a single row, several with 

 eight and seven, and any number with six, besides another 

 with two whorls of five each, one inside the other. Such 

 variations in the flowers lead me to think that the Buttercup 

 is gradually undergoing a process of development into higher 

 and more beautiful forms. This erratic freehand action adopted 

 by the plant in the formation of its inflorescence is a highly 

 interesting feature to all observers of our wild plant life. 

 R. repens, or creeping Crowfoot is most abundant in places 

 where moisture is plentiful. Owing to the creeping scions 

 which it throws out in all directions taking root wherever 

 a leaf appears, it soon fills up all the bare ground at the 

 roots of hedges with a mass of dark green foliage, and makes 

 a gorgeous display with its large yellow flowers, the largest 

 of the species. B. bulbosus and i?. acris have their home 

 in the pastures, covering in many places acres of ground with 

 a carpet of gold. These are the true Buttercups of our 

 childhood. 



