EANUNCULACEAE (BUTTERCUP FAMILY) 203 



Head of fruit oblong-cylindric. Achenes thin-walled and utricular, compressed, 

 the sides stria;te. — Hanuncuhis in part; Oxygraphis Prantl; 



' 1. Halerpestes cymbalaria (Pursh) Greene, Pitt. 4: 208. 1900. Low, 

 glabrous perennial with numerous thick fibrous roots: leaves broadly ovate 

 or ovate-cordate, coarsely crenate, olustei'ed at the base of the scapes and at 

 the nodes of the stolons: scapes 5-10 cm. high, 1-7-flowered: petals narrowly 

 oblong or spatulate, exceeding the sepals: achenes apiculate, sniall and very 

 numerous. Ranunculus cymbalaria. — Moist banks, especially in saline situa- 

 tions; in the Rocky Mountains and on northern seacoasts. 



14. CYRTORHYNCHA Nutt. Ntjttall's Buttercup 



Perennial, with thick fibrous roots and long-petioled ternately, compound 

 leaves. Sepals membranous, deciduous with the pale yellow petals. Sta- 

 mens about 20. Pistils few, becoming somewhat utricular laterally flattened 

 nerved achenes. — Banuncuitis in part. , ; .■ 



1. Cyrtorhyncha ranuriculina Nutt. T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1 : 26. 1838. Smooth, 

 7-15 cm. high: radical leaves biternately divided, segments 3-5-parted, lobes 

 oblong or linear, sometimes 2-3-cleft: petals spatulate, a little longer than 

 the b^roader sepals which are also yellow: achenes rather few, in a globose 

 head, cyUndrical-oblong, grooved, many-nerved, tipped with a long blender, 

 incuj-yed style,— Colorado and Wyoming, along the eastern foothills. 



2. Cyrtorhyncha heglecta Greene, Pitt. 4: 146. 1900. Similar bu|; taller: 

 flowers few; petals wanting; stamens about 10: achenes ovate. — Rare; canons 

 near Golden, Colorado. 



16. THALICTRUM. Meadow Rub 



Erect perennial lierbs with radical and cauline leaves ternately decompound. 

 Flowers perfect, polygamous or dioecious, generally small, greenish-white, in 

 panicles' or racemes. Sepals 4 or 5, petals none. Pistils few or several, be- 

 coming ribbed or nerved achenes, sessile or short-stipulate. Stamens indefir 

 nite, exserted. 



Flowers hermaphrodite (perfect). "I'O' 



Stem scapose; achenes oblong, few 1. T. alpihum. 



Stem leafy; aphenes ventrally gibbous, half .rhombic, numerous . 2. T. sparsiflorum. 

 Flowers dioecious or polygamo-dioecious. 



Achenes fiatitened, 2^edged. ' ■ ■ m , 



Ovate or ovate-oblong, one edige more gibbous than the other . 3. T, Fendleri.> i 



Lanceolate, acuminate; the two edges nearly alike , . . 4. T.. occideniale. 



Achenes terete or but slightly flattened. ' ' ^ 



Flowers dioecious; leaves glabrous and glaucous . , , . 5. T. venulosum. 



, Flowers polygamous; leaves obscurely glandular or waxy . . 6. T. dasycarpuni. 



1. I'halictrum alpinum L, Sp. PI. 545. 1753. Stem simple, scape-like, 

 5-20 cm. high, slightly pubescent: leaves mostly radical; leaflets roundish, 

 8-12 mm. long, some*hat lobed and crenately- tqothed; flowers perfect, in a 

 simple raceme, nodding: stigma thick and pubescent: achenes ovatCj. sessile, — 

 Infrequent, in the mountains; Colorado and far northward; also m Eurppe 

 and Asia. v i 



2. Tbalictrum sparsiflortun Turcz. in Fisch. i& Mey. Ind.Sem. Hprt. 

 Petrop. ,1: 40.! 1835. Stems striate angled, leafy, 3-8 dm. high: leaves 2 or 

 3-ternate, the upper sessile; leaflets rather small, sometimeSj pulverulent- 

 glandular benbath: flowers perfect^ on long pedicels, in a loose^ panicle: fila- 

 mfents filiform with clavate summit: achenes flat, half rhombic-oboy^.te, the 

 dorsal edge straight, short-stipitate_, and tipped with the subulatet style. — 

 Colorado, northward and west to Calif omia. i. : 



3. Thalictrum Fendleri Engelm. in Gray, PI. Fendl. 5. 1848. Stems 3-10 

 dm. high, 3-5-leaved: leaves 2-4-ternately compound'; the leafl[ets. firm, 

 10-12 mm. long, with rounded or mucronate lobes: flowers dioecious: fila- 



