Yellow and Orange 



home in fields and roadsides in most sections of tlie United States 

 and Canada. 



Much less common is the Creeping Buttercup (/?. repens), 

 which spreads by runners until it forms large patches in fields 

 and roadsides, chiefly in the Eastern States. Its leaves, which 

 are sometimes blotched, are divided into three parts, the terminal 

 one, often all three, stalked. May — July. 



First to bloom in the vicinity of New York (from March to 

 May) is the Hispid Buttercup {R. hispidus), densely hairy when 

 young. The leaves, which are pinnately divided into from three 

 to five leaflets, cleft or lobed, chiefly arise on long petioles from a 

 cluster of thickened fibrous roots. The flower may be only half 

 an inch or an inch and a half across. It is found in dry woods 

 and thickets throughout the eastern half of the United States; 

 whereas the much smaller flowered Bristly Buttercup (/?. Pennsyi- 

 vanicus) shows a preference for low-lying meadows and wet, 

 open ground through a wider, more westerly range. Its stout, 

 hollow, leafy stem, beset with stiff hairs, discourages the tongues 

 of grazing animals. June — August. 



Commonest of the early buttercups is the Tufted species {R. 

 fascicularis), a little plant seldom a foot high, found in the woods 

 and on rocky hillsides from Texas and Manitoba, east to the Atlan- 

 tic, flowering in April or May. The long-stalked leaves are divided 

 into from three to five parts ; the bright yellow flowers, with 

 rather narrow, distant petals, measure about an inch across. They 

 open sparingly, usually only one or two at a time on each plant, 

 to favor pollination from another one. 



Scattered patches of the Swamp or Marsh Buttercup (/?. sep- 

 tentrionalis) brighten low, rich meadows also with their large 

 satiny yellow flowers, whose place in the botany even the untrained 

 eye knows at sight. The smooth, spreading plant sometimes 

 takes root at the joints of its branches and sends forth runners, 

 but the stems mostly ascend. The large lower mottled leaves 

 are raised well out of the wet, or above the grass, on long peti- 

 oles. They have three divisions, each lobed and cleft. From 

 Georgia and Kentucky far northward this buttercup blooms from 

 April to July, opening only a few flowers at a time — a method 

 which may make it less showy, but more certain to secure cross- 

 pollination between distinct plants. 



The Yellow Water Buttercup or Crowfoot {R. delphinifoHus) 

 — R. muctifidus of Gray — found blooming in ponds through the 

 summer ironths, certamly justifies the family name derived from 



294 



