3o6 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



" If the open winter lures any wood-blossom to 'open its eye,' 

 it will surely be the liverwort, even as this flower occasionally an- 

 ticipates the spring in ordinary winter weather. I have before 

 me a letter from an authority who picked them under a foot of 

 snow on December 9th, and this too in a winter not notably 

 mild." 



Common all over the Atlantic States. 



7 

 If. acutiloba differs in having more pointed leaf-lobes, 3, or 

 sometimes 5, in number. Same range as the preceding. 



8. Hooked Crowfoot 



Ranunculus recurvatus. — Family, Crowfoot. Color, pale 

 yellow. Leaves, with long petioles, lower ones large. All 

 3-cleft, the broad lobes cleft or divided towards the apex, 

 toothed. Time, May, June. 



Sepals a.r\dpetals, pointed, 5, the former reflexed, longer than 

 the petals. Fruit, a cluster of achenes, armed with a long, 

 recurved hook, whence the common name. Stem hairy, i 

 to 2 feet high, strong, woody. Flowers somewhat panicled in 

 the leaf-axils. 



A plant common in all our woods. Not especially pretty. 



9. Early Crowfoot 



R.fasciculcLris is a bright-yellow flower with 5 sepals, and 5, 6, 

 or 1 petals much larger than the sepals. The first root-leaves 

 are roundish, 3-parted, toothed. Later ones have a central 

 stalked lobe larger than the lateral segments, much divided 

 or parted. Upper stem-leaves linear, undivided. Plant very 

 leafy and silky, with soft, white hairs. Roots clustered, thick 

 and fleshy, giving the specific name. 6 to 12 inches high. 



Low, bright, and pretty, a companion of violets and anemones, 

 being similar and nearly related to our common buttercups. 



