POLYANDRIA POLYCJYNIA 329 



m 



Peduncle* opposite the loaves, stout, terete, 1 to 3 or 4 inches long; flowers quite 



small. Sepals ovate, concave, reflexed. Petals yellow, lance-ovate, shorter than 



the sepals, with each a tubular pouch-l«e nectary near the base. Carpels inov i l- 



oblong heads, compressed, orbicular-ovate, smooth and shining, very miaul 



mucronate. 



ILib. Moist woodlands, meadows, &c. frequent. Fl. April— May. Fr. June-July. 



5. R. scKLKiivTi-s, L. Glabrous; radical leaves on long petioles, 3- 

 parted, segments cuneate, trifid, crenately sub-incised; stem leaves 3- 

 parted, segments cuncate-oblong, crenately incised, upper ones linear- 

 oblong, entire; calyx reflexed; carpels small, numerous, in an oblong 

 cylindric head. Becky Bot. p, 8. 



Hurtful Ranunculus. VvJgd — Celery-leaved Crow-foot. 

 Gall— Grenouillette d'eau. Germ.— Dor giftigc Hahncnfuss. 



Plant pale green, smooth and shining. Root perennial. S.'e?n 12 to IS inches 

 hl»h, thickish, fistular, branching, often dichotomous at summit, Radical an I 

 lower stem leaves 1 to 2 or 3 inches long, 3 to 5-parted, with spreading cune 

 segments ; petioles 3 to 5 inches long, dilated and sheathing at base : upper leaves 

 3-parted, on shorter petioles, the floral ones sessile, ternate, with sublinear entire 

 leaflets. Flowers small. Calyx slightly pubescent, yellowish, finally reflexed; 

 Petals pale yellow, scarcely longer than the calyx, with around pore at base. 

 Carpels closely arranged in terete elliptic-oblong smooth heads, small and nu- 

 merous, keeled on the back, scarcely mucronate. 



Hub. Moist places ; along rivulets: frequent. Fl. May— Aug. Fr. July— Sept. 

 Obs. This species is common to Eur »pe and America. It is very acrid, and lias 

 been supposed, in Europe, to be injurious to sheep, and other stock, if eaten by 

 them,— which, I suspect, it rarely is. 



f). R. bspkns, L. Stem mostly pilose, flagclliform, procumbent, rad- 

 icating at the joints; flowering branches assurgent; leaves ternate; 

 leaflets cuneate, trifid, incised-dentate, petiolate ; peduncles striate-sul- 

 cate ; calyx spreading; carpels with a straight point. Beck, Bot. p. 9. 



Creeping Ranunculus, 



Galh Pied de Corbcau. Germ. Hahnenfuss. Step. Ranunculo rastrero. 

 Root perennial, coarsely fibrous, and somewhat fasciculate. Stem- 1 to 2 feet 

 long, mostly several from the same root, at first somewhat erect, but finally ex- 

 tending into flaccid procumbent runners, with erect or assurgent branches, more 

 or less pilose- Leaves ternate, on long hairy petioles ; leajlcts trifid, or 3-j arted, 

 fcnoised, pilose on the nerves, on short petioles. Peduncles 1 to 2 or 3 inches 

 long, sulcate, sunewhat pilose. Sepals lance-ovate, yellowish, pubescent, scari- 

 ouson the margin, spreading under the petals. Petals bright yellow, cuneate-ob- 

 ovate, twice as long as the calyx, with a nectariferous scale at bale. Carpels 

 in a globose head, compressed, margined, obliquely obovate, punctate, crowned 

 with a straight margined beak. 



Hub. Moist, shaded grounds; Brandy wine: frequent. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



Obs. This is often of a stout rank growth, on the margins of shaded miry places 

 al »ng the Brandy wine ; and is sometimes nearly smooth. 



7. R. iiecuuvatus, Poir. S(e:n erect, and, with the petioles, clothed 

 with spreading hairs ; leaves 3-parted, pilose with apprcssed hairs, seg- 



88* 



