8 THE RANUNCULUS FAMILY. [Ranunculus. 



Britain. R. coenosus is a floating variety with much larger flowers, rare 

 in Britain, but more common in western Europe, where forms occur 

 also connecting R. hederaceus with R. aquatilis. R. tripartitus is a form 

 with 3-lobed or partite leaves and longer narrow 3-nerved petals [and 

 Lenormandi is another with reniform or orbicular leaves and longer 5- 

 nerved petals]. 



3. It. Lingua, Linn. (fig. 11). Great Spearwort. — Rootstock emit- 

 ting a dense mass of fibrous roots, and perennial by means of creeping 

 runners. Stems erect, stout, and hollow, 2 or 3 feet high, the lower 

 nodes emitting whorls of fibrous roots. Leaves long, lanceolate, entire 

 or with a few small teeth, glabrous, with a few nearly parallel veins. 

 Flowers above an inch in diameter, in a kind of loose panicle, bright 

 shining yellow. Carpels ending in a short broad flat beak. 



In marshes, wet ditches, and edges of lakes, in Europe and temperate 

 Asia, but not Arctic. Found, but not common, in England, Ireland, 

 and Scotland, as far north as Moray. Fl. summer. 



4. it. Flammula, Linn. (fig. 12). Lesser Spearwort — A glabrous 

 annual, or a perennial, much smaller and more slender than R. Lingua. 

 Stems usually rooting and decumbent at the base, seldom above a foot 

 high, with a few loose branches. Lowest leaves often ovate, the 

 remainder lanceolate or linear, and all entire or slightly toothed. 

 Flowers yellow, on long peduncles, seldom more than half an inch in 

 diameter, and often much smaller. Carpels in a small globular head, 

 each with a very short, usually hooked beak. 



In marshes and wet pastures, and on the borders of lakes and ponds, 

 common throughout Europe, except perhaps the southern extremity, 

 North Asia, and North America. Abundant in Britain. Fl. the whole 

 summer. It varies much in the size of its parts ; the breadth of the 

 leaves, &c. R. reptans, Linn., is a very slender creeping form or 

 species, with arching internodes, minute achenes and recurved styles, 

 found only on the sandy shores of Loch Leven in Britain. 



5. It. ophioglossifolius, Vill. (fig. 13). Snaketongue R. — Very 

 nearly allied to R. Flammula, but always annual. The stem is more 

 erect and branched, the lower leaves broadly ovate, and sometimes 

 slightly cordate, and all broader in proportion than in R. Flammula, 

 and the flowers smaller, the petals scarcely exceeding the calyx. Carpels 

 minutely granulated. 



In marshes in South and West Europe. Hampshire only in Britain, 

 and formerly St. Peter's Marsh in Jersey, where it is extinct. Fl. June. 



6. It. Ficaria, Linn. (fig. 14). Figwort R., Lesser Celandine. — 

 Rootstock small, emitting oblong or cylindrical tubers, which are 

 renewed annually. Leaves mostly radical, cordate, obtuse, angular or 

 crenate, thick, smooth, and shining. Flower-stems usually scarcely 

 longer than the root-leaves, bearing one or two small leaves and a 

 single flower, with 3 sepals and 8 or 9 oblong glossy yellow petals. 

 Carpels rather large, in a globular head. 



In fields, pastures, and waste places, a very common weed through- 

 out Europe and western Asia. Abundant in Britain, except perhaps 

 the west Highlands of Scotland. Fl. spring, one of the earliest that 

 appears. It varies occasionally with a slightly branched, creeping stem 

 of 8 or 9 inches or even more, with most of the leaves opposite. 



7. R. sceleratus, Linn. (fig. 15). Celery -leaved R. — An erect, much 



