«o 



ranunculAce/e 



i. M. minimus (Mouse-tail). — i — 5 in. high ; leaves fleshy ; 

 peduncle 1—4 in. high ; petals pale yellowish ; receptacle 1 — \\ in. 

 long, tapering. — This little plant grows in cornfields, generally in 

 damp places, and is easily distinguished from every other British 

 plant by the arrangement of its carpels, which resembles a 

 mouse's tail. — Fl. April — June. 



6. Ranunculus (Crowfoot, Buttercup, &c). — Herbs, annual 

 or perennial ; leaves entire, palmately lobed, or compound, some- 



ran^nculus aquatilis (Water Crowfoot). 



times with membranous stipules ; sepals 5, rarely 3, imbricate, 

 deciduous ; petals 5 or more, with a nectary at the base, yellow or 

 white ; stamens many, yellow ; receptacle globular or oblong ; 

 carpels many, i-ovuled ; fruit, an etaerio of achenes, apiculate. 

 (Name, the diminutive from the Latin rana, a frog, an animal 

 which frequents the kind of places where these plants grow.) 



