Ranunculus.] I. RANUNCULACE^E. 7 



Thickened base of the stem bulb-like. Leaves 

 radical. Carpels numerous in an oblong or 



cylindrical head 11. R cheer ophyllos. 



Calyx closely reflected on the peduncle. 

 Rootstock or thickened base of the stem perennial. 



Carpels perfectly smooth 12. R. bulbosus. 



Annual. Carpels marked with a few tubercles 



within the margin 13. R. hirsutus. 



Carpels covered with tubercles or prickles. Annuals. 

 Leaves hairy, segments broad. Carpels tuberculate. 



Stems weak . . . 14. R. parvifiorus. 



Leaves glabrous, segments narrow. Carpels very 



prickly. Plant erect 15. R. arvensis. 



The showy double Ranunculus of our gardens belongs to a Levant 

 species (R. asiaticus). Double-flowered varieties of several others, 

 especially of our common yellow Buttercups, and of the white-flowered 

 Continental R. aconitifolius, are known as Bachelor's Buttons. 



1. R. aquatilis, Linn. (fig. 9). Water R. — A most variable species, 

 but easily known by its stem either floating in water, or creeping 

 along mud, by its white flowers, and very small ovoid carpels marked 

 with transverse wrinkles. It is glabrous in all its parts excepting 

 sometimes the carpels and their receptacle. The lower leaves and 

 sometimes all, if submerged, are divided into numerous very fine 

 linear segments, whilst those which float are rounded and more or less 

 cut into 3 or 6 wedge-shaped, obovate, or rounded lobes. Flower- 

 stalks axillary and 1 -flowered. Petals 5 or sometimes more, without 

 any scale over the spot at their base. 



In ponds, streams, and fresh and brackish ditches throughout all 

 temperate regions. Abundant in Britain. Fl. the whole season. Many 

 of the forms it assumes are striking, and have been distinguished as 

 species, but the characters, although often to a certain degree per- 

 manent, are at times so inconstant, and so depend on the situation the 

 plant grows in, that I can only consider them as varieties. Twelve of 

 them are admitted by Babington as species, of which the following 

 are the most prominent. 



a. fluitans (R. fluitans, Lam.). All the leaves submerged and finely 

 cut, the segments long and parallel. Flowers large, on long stalks. — 

 Chiefly in running streams. 



b. circinatus (R. circinatus, Sibth.). All the leaves submerged and 

 finely cut, but with shorter segments spreading in a perfect circle. 

 Flowers large. — Chiefly in deep still waters. 



c. vulgaris. Lower leaves submerged and finely cut ; upper leaves 

 floating, rounded and broadly lobed. Flowers very variable in size. — 

 The commonest state of the plant. 



2. R. hederaceus, Linn. (fig. 10). Ivy R.—Verj closely allied to 

 R. aquatilis, and probably a variety of that species ; but as in our own 

 country, at least, it is very constant, I here admit it in deference to 

 the opinion of others. It never appears to produce the finely cut 

 leaves of R. aquatilis, but, creeping on mud or floating in shallow 

 water, it roots at every joint, bearing angular and broadly lobed leaves 

 like the upper ones of R. aquatilis ; the flowers are usually very small, 

 the petals scarcely exceeding the sepals, and the carpels and receptacles 

 are quite glabrous. 



Chiefly in wet ditches in western and northern Europe, common in 



