The Meadow Buttercup 



the little seeds in their cases develop and swell some- 

 what, forming a globular head, but they always 

 remain hard, dry, and unattractive. Our picture 

 shows both flowers and fruits. 



And here a curious question may be put : What 

 is the true Buttercup ? — ^for the subject of this 

 chapter only represents one of three plants which are 

 impartially claimed as Buttercups. It is true all 

 three are members of the same family, the Ranun- 

 culacecB, and the closest of relatives and botanists 

 know them as Ranunculus acris, repens, and bulhosus 

 — that is, the Meadow, the Creeping, and the Bulbous 

 Buttercup respectively — and, as might be expected, 

 their flowers are very similar. Bees apparently do 

 not distinguish between them, for they fly from one 

 to another indifferently, and yet as a strict rule 

 bees always keep, for the time being, to the same 

 species of flower when they are out collecting. But 

 let us, at any rate, distinguish between them. The 

 Bulbous Buttercup is characterised by its stem being 

 thickened into a small bulb at the base ; the Creeping 



55 



