12 



THE RANUNCULUS FAMILY. 



at every joint, bearing rounded and 

 broadly-lobed leaves, like the upper 

 ones of the water It. 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 Britain. 

 It. coenosus is a variety with much larger 

 flowers, rare in Britain, but more com- 

 mon as we proceed to southern Europe, 

 where forms occur closely connecting 

 the ivy It. with the water It. Several 

 of these are designated under the name of It. tri/partitios. 



Fig. 10. 



3. Great Ranunculus. Ranunculus Lingua, Linn. (Eig. 11.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 100. Great Spearioort.) 



Hootstock emitting 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 

 only a few small teeth at the edge, gla- 

 brous, with a few nearly parallel veins. 

 Elowers above an inch in diameter, in a 

 kind of loose panicle ; the petals of a 

 bright shining yellow. Carpels ending 

 in a short broad flat beak. 



In marshes, wet ditches, and on the 

 edges of lakes, over the greater part of 

 Europe and Asia, but not an Arctic 

 plant. Pretty frequent, though by no means general in England, Ire- 

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



Eig. 11. 



4. Spear Ranunculus. Ranunculus Flammula, Linn. (Fig. 12.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 387. Spearwort.) 

 A glabrous perennial of short duration, or frequently only annual, 

 much smaller and more slender than the great It. Stems usually 

 more or less decumbent at the base, and rooting at the lower joints, 

 seldom above a foot high, with a few loose branches. Lowest leaves 

 often ovate, the remainder lanceolate or linear, and all entire or slightly 



