164 The Ranunculus, or Crowfoot. 



of Ranunculus ; it has also several carpels, (two or three,) which 

 are not grown together ; and this is the second essential charac- 

 ter of Ranunculus, so that this plant has, in reality, no essen- 

 tial character by which it can be distinguished from the 

 Crowfoot tribe." The Larkspur further agrees with nearly all 

 Ranunculacese in the poisonous properties of its juice. 



RANUNCULUS— THE RANUNCULUS, or CROWFOOT. 



Natural Order, Ranunculacese. Linna>au System, Polyandria, Polygyria. 

 Generic Distinctions : Calyx of five deciduous sepals ; petals, five, rarely 

 eight or ten, with a nectariferous pore at the inside of the hase ; stamens, 

 numerous ; seed vessels, numerous, ovate, crowded. 



jR. gramineus. Leaves, lanceolate, or linear, quite entire ; stem, erect, 

 quite smooth, branching ; scales of the petals, tubular ; root, fascicled.— 

 Plate25,Fig. 1. 



R. amplexicaulis. Leaves, ovate, acuminate, clasping the stem ; stem, 

 many-flowered ; root, fascicled. — Plate 25, Fig. 2. 



R. aconitifolius. Leaves, palmate, three or five parted ; stem, branched, 

 many-flowered ; calyx, smooth. — Plate 25, Fig. 3 



The plants belonging to this genus generally grow in wet, 

 marshy situations, and hence the name, Ranunculus, derived 

 from the Latin, rana, a frog, which animal lives in such places. 

 This is a large genus, comprising several very common wild 

 plants, and numerous garden flowers. The common name of 

 some of the species, Crowfoot, is taken from the resemblance 

 in shape of the divided leaves to a bird's foot, and the other as 

 common appellation, Buttercup, from the rich golden yellow of 

 the petals. The flowers, when not made double by cultivation, 

 consist of five petals, numerous stamens, and carpels, each of 

 which has a short, beaked stigma, without a style, all collected 

 in a roundish head, on the receptacle. 



The three species figured in our plate are among the prettiest 

 of the genus. R. gramineus, is a native of many parts of 

 Europe, and is particularly distinguished by its grass-like 

 leaves and large flowers. R. amplexicaulis, comes from the 



