RANUNCULUS. 



acute, with upright, awl-(hapcd, brillly points. IVill- 



denow, 



76. R. arvcnjis. Corn Crowfoot. Linn. Sp. PI. 780. 

 Willd. n. 52. Ait. n. 32, Fl. Brit. n. 12. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 135. Curt. Lond. fafc. 6. t. 36. Mart. Ruih t. 56. 

 Fl. Dan. t. 219. BuUiard. t. 117. Brugnon Mem. de 

 I'Acad. de Turin, v. 4. 108. t. 3. ( R. arvorum ; Ger. 

 Em. 951.) — Leaves ternate, three-cleft, with linear feg- 

 ments. Seeds prickly at each fide. Stem ereft.— Fre- 

 quent in corn-fields throughout Europe, flowering in the 

 middle of fummer. Root fibrous, annual. Stem one or two 

 feet high, much branched, many-flowered, leafy, nearly 

 fmooth. Leaves of a light green, (lightly hairy, ilalked, 

 once or twice ternate, as well as deeply three-cleft ; the ul- 

 timate fegments almoft; Imear, entire, or rarely notched. 

 Flowers fmall, lemon- coloured, fl;alked, lateral and terminal. 

 Calyx fpreading, liairy. Petals obovate, veined. Fruit de- 

 preifed. Seeds very large, compreiled, with erect, awl- 

 fhaped, hooked beaks ; their lides armed with numerous, 

 prominent, awl-fhaped prickles, largeft towards the margin. 

 From the obfervations of M. Brugnon, this appears to be 

 one of the moft virulent of its genus, efpecially when young, 

 caufuig fpeedy inflammation and gangrene in the tlomachs 

 of {heep and oxen ; who neverthcleis eat it with avidity. 

 Vinegar much diluted with waier, poured down their 

 throats, proved a quick and certain remedy. The expreded 

 juice of the plant, given to dogs, is no lefs fatal. 



77. R. muricatus. Spreading Pnckly-feeded Crowfoot. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 780. Willd. n. 53. Lamarck Dift. n. 75. 

 Ait. n. 33. Purfh n. 24. Sm. Fl. Grsec. Sibth. t. 522, 

 unpublifhed. ( R. creticus echinatus latifolius ; Alpin. 

 Exot. 263. t. 262. R. Apulei quibufdam ; Cluf. Hilt. 

 V. I. 233. R. parvMS echinatus; Ger. Em. 965. R. pa- 

 luftris echinatus ; Bauh. Hid. v. 3. 846. Feuill. Peruv. 

 58. t. 18. f. I.) — Leaves fimple, three-lobed, notched, 

 bluntifli, fmooth. Stipulas diltantly fringed. Seeds 

 prickly at each fide. Stem difFufe. — Native of watery 

 places in various parts of the fouth of Europe ; frequent in 

 Greece. It occurs alfo in North America, in old fields, 

 from Virginia to Carolina, flowering in June and July, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Purfh. The i-oot is annual, confifting of 

 numerous long fibres. Herb fmooth and fucculent, bright 

 green. Stems feveral, various in length, fpreading, and 

 moftly procumbent, leafy, round, ftiining ; purplifli in the 

 lower part. Leaves an inch and a half to three inches wide, 

 veiny, in three rather deep lobes, broadly and irregularly 

 notched. Footjlalks from one to four inches, or more, in 

 length, with a concave fheathing bafe, bordered with a 

 membranous _/?(/>;//«, whofe edges are regularly frirged with 

 diftant hairs. Flowers the fize of the lall, yellow, folitary, 

 en axillary ftalks, rather fhorter than the leaves. Calyx re- 

 flexed, nearly, or quite, fmooth. Petals obovate, almoft 

 twice as long as the calyx, at leafl; in the European fpeci- 

 mens, though they appear to be but of the fame length in 

 American ones. Fruit capitate. Seeds large, ovate, com- 

 prefled, with broad, a^vl-fliaped, angular, fomewhat re- 

 curved beaks ; their fides covered with fmaller, more uni- 

 form prickles, than in R. arvenjis. Cemmerfon gathered, 

 by the fea-fliore at Monte Video, a variety of this with 

 more luxuriant herbage, and fmaller flowers, of which Ven- 

 tenat makes a fpecies of the name of ventricojus, founding its 

 charadler on the inflated bafes of the footjlalks, of which, 

 however, we can lee nothing, in our original fpecimens from 

 Thouin's herbarium, lli Jlipulas are fringed precifely as in 

 our European muricatus, to which we agree with Poiret in 

 referring it, though we can fcarcely do the fantie by the fol- 

 Jowing;. 



78. R. echinatus. Dwarf Prickly-feedcd Crowfoot. 

 Venten. Jard. de Cels t. 73. Purfh n. 2J. (R. murica- 

 tus y; Lamarck DiA. n. 75.) — Leaves fimple, three- 

 lobed, notched, fmooth. Stipulas bearded at the fummit. 



Seeds prickly at each fide. Stem ered, branched Found 



by M. Bofc, near Charleflown, South Carolina. This 

 fcems to difl'er from the lall, in its fimple, fhort, upright 



Jlem ; but more efpecially, if Veiitcnat's plate and defcrip- 

 tioii be corredt, which we cannot doubt, in having each 



Jlipula crowned with a tuft of hairs, iiillead of being dif- 

 tantly fringed throughout. The petals are faid to be larger 

 than thofe of the American variety, at leafl, of muricatus ; 

 but that circumftance is -of fmall moment here, as to a fpe- 

 cific diftinftion. 



79. R. parvijlorus. Small-flowered Crowfoot. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 780. Willd. n. 54. Ait. n. 34. Fl. Brit. n. 13. 

 Engl. Bot. t. 120. (R. hirfutus aniiuus, flore minimo ; 

 Raii Syn. 248. t. 12. f. i. Phik. Phyt. t. ^^. f. i.) — 

 Leaves fimple, three-lobed, notched, hairy. Seeds covered, 

 at each fide, with hooked prickles ; their beaks recurved. 

 Stem diffufe. — Native of the more temperate parts of 

 Europe. Found on banks, and in wafle as well as culti- 

 vated ground, in England, where the foil is gravelly ; as 

 alfo in Greece, flowering in the earlv part of fummer. The 

 root is annual. Stems proftrate. Whole herb hairy, fmaller 

 in every part than R. muricatus. Flower-Jlalks oppofite to 

 the leaves. Petals pale yellow, fcarcely longer than the 

 fpreading calyx, fugacious, and often imperfeft. Fruit 

 capitate. Seeds ovate, with a broad, fhort, hooked beak, 

 their flat brown fides denfely covered with fhort, hooked 

 prickles. R. trilobus, Desfont. Atlant. v. i. 437. t. 113. 

 Lamarck Diet. n. 77, feems a variety, not of this, but of 

 our hirfutus, n. 51. 



80. R. orientalis. Spinous Oriental Crowfoot. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 781. Willd. n. 5y. Lamarck Dift. n. 71. (R. 

 lefbius, pulfatillae foho, flore magno ; Tourn. Cor. 20.} — 

 Leaves deeply laciniated, acute ; all ftalked. Stem branched. 

 Calyx reflexed. Fruit cylindrical. Seeds dotted ; their 

 beaks recurved and fpinous. — Native of the Levant. Root 

 annual. Stem various in luxuriance, filky, leafy ; in the 

 Linnasan fpecimen much branched and divaricated, with 

 many flowers. Leaves ftalked, compofed in general of 

 three deeply laciniated, often pinnatifid, acute, hairy leaf- 

 lets. Flowers large, pale yellow, on long, ftout, fimple, 

 lateral or terminal, folitary, fpreading ftalks. Calyx rather 

 fpreading than decidedly reflexed, nearly fmooth. Fruit 

 three quarters of an inch long, (lightly elliptical, obtufe. 

 Seeds in many rows, comprelTed, minutely dotted at each 

 fide, gibbous at the bafe, each terminating in a very broad, 

 rather fhort, comprefTed, recurved, fpinous-pointed beak. 

 We know of no figure of this or the following. 



81. R. grandijloriu . Large-flowered Oriental Crow- 

 foot. Linn. Sp. PI. 781. Willd. n. 56. Lamarck Did. 

 n. 63. (R. orientalis, aconiti folio, flore luteo niaximo ; 

 Tourn. Cor. 20.) — " Stem ereft, two-leaved. Leaves 

 many.cleft ; thofe of the ftem alternate, fefiile." — Ga- 

 thered by Tournefort in the Levant. We have feen no 

 fpecimen. Willdenow marks this as a perennial fpecies, 

 and indicates his having feen it in a dried ilate. We regret 

 that he did not fubjoin a defcription of the plant, the Lin- 

 naean fpecific charafter being very infufficient. What 

 Poiret has given is evidently com.piled from the fhort ma- 

 terials furnifhed by Linnaeus and Tournefort. The Abbe 

 Seftini is faid to have gathered R. grandiflorus near Conl\an- 

 tinople ; on whofe authority it finds a place in Prodr. Fl. 

 Grxc. v. I. 385. 



82. R. faUatui. Sickle-feeded Crowfoot, Linn. Sp. 



PL 



