4 EAXUNCULACE^E. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 



* * Akenes without tails. 



■»- Akenes very numerous in a close head, densely villous. 



++ Low (3 to 12 inches high) or slender plants, with simple stems. 



2. A. decapetala, L. Stem 3 to 6 inches high from a round tuber: root- 

 leaves once or twice 3-parted or cleft: involucre (mostly sessile and far below 

 the flower) 3-parted, the wedge-shaped divisions 3-cleft : sepals 10 to 20, oblong* 

 Unbar, purple or whitish: head of fruit oblong. — A. Caroliniana, Walt. From 

 Colorado to Arizona and New Mexico, and across the continent to the 

 Carolinas. 



3. A. parviflora, Michx. Stem 3 to 12 inches high from a slender root- 

 stock: root-leaves 3-parted, their broadly wedge-shaped divisions crenate-incised 

 or lobed : involucre 2 to 3-leaved, distant from the flower : sepals 5 or 6, oval, 

 white : head of fruit globular. — Mountains of Colorado, and northward to the 

 Arctic Sea, 



++ •*■+ Taller (6 inches to 2 feet), commonly branching above or producing two 

 or more peduncles : sepals 5 to 8, silky or downy beneath, oval or oblong. 



4. A. multlflda, Poir. Silky-hairy (6 to 12 inches high) : principal 

 involucre 2 to 3-leaved, bearing one naked and one or two 2-leaved peduncles ; 

 leaves of the secondary involucre short-petioled, similar to the root-leaves, 

 twice or thrice 3-parted and clef, their divisions linear : sepals red, sometimes 

 greenish-yellow or whitish: head of fruit spherical or oval. — Across the 

 continent in northern latitudes, and southward in the mountains through 

 Colorado. 



5. A. cylindrica, Gray. Taller, and clothed with silky hairs: flowers 

 2 to 6, on very long and upright naked peduncles : leaves of the involucre 

 long-petioled, twice or thrice as many as the flower-stalks, 3-divided, their 

 divisions wedge-shaped, the lateral 2-parted, the middle one 3-cleft, lobes cut 

 and toothed at the apex: sepals greenish-white : head of fruit cylindrical. — 

 From Colorado to Bitter Root valley and thence eastward across the continent. 



■i- ■•- Akenes fewer, pubescent only. 



6. A. dichotoma, L. Hairy, rather low : involucres sessile; the primary 

 ones 3-leaved, bearing a naked peduncle, and soon a pair of branches or 

 peduncles with a 2-leaved involucre at the middle, which branch similarly in 

 turn ; their leaves broadly wedge-shaped, 3-cleft, cut and toothed : radical 

 leaves 5 to 7-parted or cleft : sepals 5, obovate, white : carpels orbicular. — 

 A. Pennsylvania, L. Common on the foothills of Colorado, northward and 

 eastward. 



7. A. nemorosa, L. Smooth or somewhat villous : stem perfectly simple 

 from a filiform rootstock, slender, leafless, except the involucre of 3 long- 

 petioled trifofiolate leaves ; their leaflets wedge-shaped or oblong, toothed or 

 cut, or the lateral ones 2-parted ; a similar radical leaf in sterile plants soli- 

 tary from the rootstock : sepals 4 to 7, oval, white or pinkish : carpels oblong t 

 with a hooked beak. — Northern United States and British America, 



«»- i- -»- Akenes glabrous. 



8. A. narcissiflora, L. Villous : leaves palmately 3 to 5-parted ; seg- 

 ments cuneiform, incisely many-cleft, lobes linear : involucre somewhat 

 similar, sessile, leaflets 3 to 5 -cleft : pedicels several, umbelled, leafless, 



