56 BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS chap. 



The upper leaves are lanceolate or linear, the lower 

 ones broader, and all slightly toothed. The flowers are 

 protandrous, the outer stamens opening first, and turn- 

 ing the pollen outwards. The stigma is, however, 

 mature before the innermost stamens have shed their 

 pollen. The insect visitors are not numerous. They 

 comprise the hive bee and some species of Halictus, a 

 few beetles, one or two Lepidoptera, and several species 

 of flies. 



R. acris, repens, and bulbosus. — These species offer 

 some very interesting problems. R. acris is erect and 

 tall ; R. repens, as the name denotes, is a creeping plant ; 

 while R. bulbosus has the stem thickened at the base into 



Fig. 31. — Ranunculus bulbosus. 1, Flower ; 2, front 

 view of petal, showing nectary [n) ; 3, side view of 

 same ; 4, base of last, more enlarged. 



a sort of bulb. Moreover, it differs from the other two 

 in that the sepals bend downwards in the middle — a 

 character we have just noticed in R. sceleratus which 

 recurs in R. hirsutus and some foreign species. 

 R. acris is softly hairy, the hairs generally spreading, 

 but deflexed on the lower parts of the stem, and appressed 

 on the peduncles. In R. repens the hairs are longer and 

 looser. R. bulbosus is generally somewhat hairier. In 

 all three the leaves are much divided, but in R. acris 

 the divisions are finer. In R. acris the outline is 

 rounded, in R. repens it is ovate ; the leaves of R. 

 bulbosus resemble those of R. acris, but are broader. 

 The peduncle is glabrous and furrowed in R. bulbosus, 

 hairy and furrowed in R. repens, hairy but not furrowed 

 in R. acris. The carpels are glabrous in R. acris and 



