STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
One of the prettiest of the Ranunculus family is the 
CREEPING SpEaARworT—Ranunculus reptans (Gray), 
a tiny, delicate plant, with slender thready stems rooting 
from beneath the joints. The leaves are very narrow and 
pointed, those nearest to the root a little lobed or eared. 
The little bright golden shining flowers only a few lines 
broad, are borne in the axils of the leaves of the prostrate 
creeping stems, and peep out from the sandy soil among 
tufts of minute hairy sedges (Hleocharis acicularis) that 
clothe the damp low-lying shores of rivers or lakes. There 
are several Water Crowfoots, some with white flowers, 
others with yellow. These latter flowers float upon the 
surface of slow-flowing rivers or lakes, gently rising or 
falling with the motion of the waters. The beautiful 
adaptation of plants to soil and circumstances may be 
noticed in these and some other aquatic plants which have 
their foliage dissected into narrow segments, so that the 
water may freely flow through them. Of the water 
Ranunculi, we may mention White Water Crowfoot (R. 
aquatilis) and Yellow Water Crowfoot (R. multifidus). 
There are among our native Ranunculus flowers a few 
plants of which the outward beauties of their blossoms are 
better known to us than their useful qualities, though 
doubtless even the lowliest among them has a part to per- 
form, not for man’s sole benefit, but for the support or 
shelter of some of God’s creation among the insect tribes 
or smaller animals or birds which find nourishment in 
their seeds, leaves or roots. It is a remarkable fact that 
rarely, if ever, is the flower of any plant selected for food 
by bird or beast. 
There are many native plants of the order Ranunculacee, 
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