The Meadow Buttercup 



which have only fibrous roots, have to do. The 



Meadow variety may be two or three feet high, and 



is much taller than the Bulbous variety, which 



rarely exceeds a foot in height, while the Creeping 



variety keeps close to the ground. 



In all three plants bitter acrid juices course 



through their tissues ; so pronounced are they in 



the Meadow Buttercup that they have given it 



its second name, " acris." If cattle, by mischance, 



munch its seed it is said even to blister their mouths, 



while little children gathering it in the fields have 



had their hands hurt. Tramps have found out its 



value in their nefarious practices, for they have been 



known to rub their bare feet with the leaves and 



thus raise sores to encourage the charitable to 



give alms to the poor and footsore man. In 



Thornton's " Herbal " of the beginning of last 



century it is stated that rheumatic affections have 



often been relieved by pounding the leaves and 



applying them as a blister. The writer also informs 



his readers that if a decoction of this plant be poured 

 B8 57 



