RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 155 
Means of control 
Cut or pull while in early bloom in order that no seeds shall be 
allowed to ripen. 
SMALL-FLOWERED CROWFOOT 
Raninculus abortivus, L. 
Other English names: Abortive Buttercup, Kidney-leaved Crowfoot. 
Native. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: Late April to August. 
Seed-time: June to September. 
Range: Labrador to Manitoba, southward to Florida and Texas. 
Habitat: Moist soil; meadows, lawns, and 
quart ground, particularly strawberry 
elds. 
This plant is readily identified by the 
great difference between its root leaves and 
stem-leaves; the basal leaves being thick of 
texture, bright green, rounded heart-shaped 
or kidney-shaped, with scalloped edges and 
long petioles ; the stem-leaves, three- to five- 
parted, with wedge-shaped or linear seg- 
ments, the lowermost with short petioles, 
those near the top sessile; all are smooth, 
as is also the stem, which is erect, slender, 
many-branched, six to eighteen inches tall. 
Flowers numerous but very small, the pale 
yellow petals being hardly noticeable and 
shorter than the reflexed sepals. The small 
seed-head is globose, the carpels minute, 
tipped with a mere bristly point. (Fig. 
105.) 
Means of control 
Better drainage; for this Crowfoot is 
a plant that demands moisture. Early 
cutting with hoe or spud in order that no 
seed may be permitted to develop. 
Fig. 105. — Small- 
flowered Crowfoot (Ra- 
nunculus abortivus). X 4. 
