I. EANUNCULACEiE. 



1. Common Mousetail. Myosurus minimus, Linn. (Fig. 8.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 435. Mousetail.) 



A small annual with linear radical 

 leaves, sometimes not an inch long, some- 

 times attaining 2 or even 3 inches, in- 

 cluding their long footstalk. Peduncles 

 also radical, rather longer than the 

 leaves, often enlarged and hollow at the 

 top, with a single small yellowish flower. 

 Sepals prolonged below their insertion 

 into a kind of spur. Petals rarely longer 

 than the calyx, and very narrow. Car- 

 pels very numerous, forming a head 

 which lengthens into a close slender 

 spike, 1 or even 2 inches in length. 



In moist sandy or gravelly fields and waste places, in Europe, Rus- 

 sian Asia, northern and western America, and Australia. JNot uncom- 

 mon in the south and south-east of England, rare in Scotland, and not 

 yet detected in Ireland. Fl. spring. 



Big. 8. 



YL RANUNCULUS. RANUNCULUS. 



Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes entirely aquatic. Leaves en- 

 tire or more or less divided. .Flowers usually yellow or white. Sepals 

 5, very rarely reduced to 3. Petals 5, or sometimes more, each with a 

 thickened hollow spot at the base, often covered by a minute scale. 

 Stamens usually numerous. Carpels numerous, without awns, in a 

 globular or oblong head, each containing a single ovule attached near 

 its base. 



A numerous genus, widely spread over the temperate regions of the 

 globe and even found under the tropics. It is easily distinguished from 

 Anemone by the want of the involucre. The so-called nectary at the 

 base of the petals, which separates it from Adonis, is sometimes re- 

 duced to a slightly discoloured, concave spot. In the small-flowered 

 species one or more of the petals are often wanting, and the stamens 

 reduced to very few. 



Flowers white. Carpels transversely wrinkled. Plant 

 floating in water or creeping in mud. 

 Lower leaves or all the leaves finely cut. Receptacle 



usually hairy 1. Water R. 



All the leaves rounded with broad lobes. Recep- 

 tacle glabrous 2. Ivy R. 



