Genus 20. 



CROWFOOT FAMILY. 



25. Ranunculus repens L. Creeping 

 Buttercup. Gold-balls. Fig. 1919. 



Ranunculus repens L. Sp. PI. 554. 



1753- 



R. Clintoni Beck, Bot. N. & Mid. States 9. 1833. 



Generally hairy, sometimes only slightly 

 so, spreading by runners and forming large 

 patches. Leaves petioled, 3-divided, the ter- 

 minal division, or all three stalked, all ovate, 

 cuneate or truncate, acute, cleft and lobed, 

 often blotched; flowers nearly i' broad; petals 

 obovate, much exceeding the spreading sepals ; 

 head of fruit globose, 4" in diameter; achenes 

 margined, tipped with a stout short slightly 

 bent beak. 



Fields, roadsides, and in wet grounds, New- 

 foundland to Virginia, Ontario and British Co- 

 lumbia. Bermuda ; Jamaica. Mainly introduced 

 from Europe, but regarded as indigenous in its 

 western range. Ram's-claws. Gold-knops. Butter- 

 daisy. Horse-gold. Sitfast. Yellow gowan. 

 Spotted-leaf buttercup. May-July. 



26. Ranunculus septentrionalis Poir. Swamp 

 or Marsh Buttercup. Fig. 1920. 



Ranunculus septentrionalis Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 6 : 

 125. 1804. 



Roots simply fibrous; plant branching, i°-3° high, 

 glabrous, or pubescent, the later branches procum- 

 bent and sometimes rooting at the nodes. Leaves 

 large, petioled, 3-divided; divisions mostly stalked, 

 usually cuneate at the base, cleft into broad lobes; 

 lower petioles occasionally a foot long; flowers i' 

 in diameter or more, bright yellow; petals obovate, 

 twice the length of the spreading sepals; head of 

 fruit globose or oval, 4" in diameter; achenes flat, 

 strongly margined, subulate-beaked by the stout 

 sword-shaped style which is of nearly their length 

 and often early deciduous. 



Mainly in swamps and low grounds, New Brunswick 

 to Manitoba, Georgia and Kansas. April-July. 



Ranunculus sicaefdrmis Mack. & Bush, of Missouri 

 and Minnesota, seems to be a hispid-pubescent race of 

 this species. 



27. Ranunculus hispidus Michx. Hispid 

 Buttercup. Fig. 1921. 



.'?. hispidus Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 321. 1803. 



LIsually densely villous when young, sometimes 

 merely appressed-pubescent or glabrate when old ; 

 stems ascending or spreading, 8'-2° long ; plant 

 not stoloniferous ; roots a cluster of thickened 

 fibers. Leaves pinnately 3-S-divided, the divisions 

 ovate, oblong or obovate, narrowed or cuneate at 

 the base, sharply cleft or lobed, usually thin ; flow- 

 ers 6"-i8" broad ; petals oblong, about twice as 

 long as the spreading sepals, entire or emarginate ; 

 head of fruit globose-oval or globose ; achenes 

 broadly oval, lenticular, narrowly margined, ab- 

 ruptly tipped by a subulate style of about one- 

 half their length. 



In dry woods and thickets, Vermont and Ontario to 

 North Dakota, south to Georgia and Arkansas. The 

 earliest flowering buttercup of the vicinity of New 

 York. Ascends to 6000 ft. in North Carolina. March- 

 May. 



