200 KANUNCULACEAE (bUTTEECUP FAMILY) 



, Flowers very large, 2-3 cm. broad. ' t 



Leaves 2-3-ternately .parted into linear lobes . . 16. R. adpneua.: . > 

 Leaves digitately 3-7-divided or parted . . . 17. H.. eximiua. 

 Plants of middle elevations or lower; mostly 2-4 dm, high. 



Wholly glabrous 18. R. eremogenes. 



More or less pubescent. 



,i Achenes with shorthookedbeak. ; _'^ 



Stems' glabrous or nearly so; flowers small . . 19. K. Douglasii. 

 Stems hirsute; flowers 15-25 mm. broad. 



Pubescence mostly appressed .... 20. R, acriformis. 

 Pubescence mostly spreading .... 21, R. montanensis. 

 Achenes with straight stout beak. 

 'Stems stout, very rough hirsute; beak much shorter 

 ' ■ than the body of the achene. 



Head of carpels oblong; petals not longer than 



, the sepals . ., 22. R, pennsylvanicus, 



Head of carpels globose or ovoid; petals longer 



than the sepals , , . . ' ; . 23. R. Macounii, 

 Stems slenderer; beak as long as the body of the 



achene .' 24. R. maximus. 



1. Ranunculus Purshii Rich, in Frank. Journ. 751. 1823. Stems floating 

 or immersed, with the divisions of the leaves long and fiUform; or rooting in 

 the mud and the leaves round-renifbrm and more or less deeply lobed and 

 toothed; petioles short, broadly stipulate-dilated at base: flowers Islrge, the 

 petals with conspicuous obovate scales: achenes in a small globose head, 

 beaked bf a short Strai^t style. B. multifidus. — Colorado and northward, 

 and across the continent. 



2. Ranunculus natans C. A. Meyer, in Ledeb. Ic. t. 114. 1829. Stem 

 fihform, creeping: leaves glabrous, petioled, reniform, 3-cleft; the lobes oval- 

 oblong, divaricate, the lateral ones sometimes somewhat 2-cleft: heads of 

 achenes globose, compact; style wanting. — In swamps at middle elevations; 

 Colorado and north ward^' ' 



3. Ranunculus reptans L. Sp. PI. 549. 1753. Glabrous throughout: stems 

 filiform, creeping and rooting at the joints: leaves mostly lanceolate and acute 

 at each end: petals half longer than the sepals: achenes few in a small globular 

 head, pluinp; beak very short and curved. — Found in Colorado, but most com- 

 mon northward, where it extends across the continent. 



4. Ranunculus calthaeflorus Greene, Erythea 3: 45. 1895. Nearly or 

 quite glabrous throughout: roots thickened-fibrous: stems usually, solitalry, 

 more or less branched, often dichotomously from near the middle, 1-3 dm. 

 high: leaves ovate and oblong-lanceolate, 3-10 cm. long, entire or nearly so; 

 the cauline somewhat narrower and sessile: inflorescence more or less corym- 

 bose: petals about 10, oblong-oboyate or narrower: achenes in a subglobose 

 head; the beak short, subulate, and nearly straight. R. alismaefolivs. (R 

 unguicvlaius Greene, Pitt. 4: 142. 1900.) — Frequent at high altitudes in tht 

 central Rocky Mountains. 



5. Ranunculus glaberrimus Hook. FL. Bor, Am. 1: 13. t. 5. 1829. Gla- 

 brous; less than 1 dm. high: roots a fascicle of thickened fibers: stems 

 1-several-flowered: radical leaves elliptic, cuneate at base, 3-qleft to the 

 middle or deeper: flowers 18-25 mm. broad: petals twice as long as the 

 sepals, bright yellow, glossy and shining: achenes with a short beak., {R. 

 ellipticvs Greene, Pitt. 2: 110. 1890.),— -Colorado, northward and west to 

 Washington. 



6. Ranunculus Macauleyi Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 15: 45. 1880. Roots a 

 fascicle of fleshy fibers: stems 10-15 cm. high: leaves petioled, soft-pilose 

 when young, soon glabrate, from oblong to obovate-spatulate, 3-10 toothed: 

 sepals very dark-villous: petals crenulate, about 1 cm. long: carpels glabrous, 

 subglobose, beaked by a short straight style. — Alpine; in southwestern 

 Colorado. 



7. Ranunculus abortivus L. Sp. PI. 551. 1753. (glabrous, 1-5 dm. high: 

 primary root-leaves round heart-shaped or kidney-form, barely crenate, .the 

 succeeding ones often 3-lobed or 3-parted; those of the stem and branches 

 3-5-parted or divided, their ^divisions oblong or narrowly wedge-form, mostly 

 toothed: petals shprter than the reflexed sepals: achenes with a minute 



