156 RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 
EARLY BUTTERCUP 
Raninculus fasciculdris, Muhl. 
Other English names: Early Crowfoot, Tufted buttercup. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: April to May. 
Seed-time: Late May to July. 
Range: New England and Ontario to Manitoba, southward to the 
Carolinas, Texas, and Arkansas. 
Habitat: Hillsides ; ; upland fields and pastures. 
The earliest of the Buttercups; it springs from a tuft or bundle 
of roots, which look as though meant to be fibrous but are thickened 
and fleshy. Stems tufted, six inches to a 
foot high, the whole plant covered with fine, 
silky, close-pressed hairs. Leaves small, 
three-parted, the terminal segment long- 
stalked and again thrice divided; the peti- 
oles slender. Flowers almost an inch 
broad, glossy yellow, often with more than 
five petals, which are spatulate and much 
longer than the spreading calyx. Seed- 
head globose, each achene tipped with a 
curved and awl-like beak about as long 
as itself. (Fig. 106.) 
Means of control 
The hilly nature of the ground on which 
this weed grows best very often forbids its 
cultivation because the fertile top soil is in 
danger of washing down the slopes. But 
Fic. 106. — Early But- Cattle reject the plant, the seeds mature 
tercup (Ranunculus fasci- and scatter, and the weed gradually en- 
cularis). 4 croaches until the turf is ruined. The 
best remedy is deep hoe-cutting in the first days of bloom. 
CREEPING BUTTERCUP 
Ranitinculus repens, L. 
arti and introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by 
stolons. 
Time of bloom: May to July. 
