RANUNCULACEJE. (CROWFOOT FAMILY.) 37 



§ 2. Carpels very numerous in a dense head, tipped with short and nearly naked styles, 

 thickly clothed with very long and matted wool when ripe. 



* Low or slender plants, somewhut pubescent, always simple-stemmed, with a mostly 



sessile 2 - 3-leaved involucre far below the flower. 



2. A. Caroliniana, Walt. (Carolina Anemone.) Stem 3' -6' high 

 from a round tuber; root-leaves once or twice 3-parted or cleft; involucre 3- 

 parted, its wedge-shaped divisions 3-cleft; sepals 10-20, oblong -linear, purple or 

 whitish; head of fruit oblong.— Illinois [0. Everett, J. W. Powell, M. S. Bebb, 

 E. Hall, T. J. Hale, &c.) and southward. May. Apparently passes into the 

 South American A. decapetala. 



3. A. parviflbra, Michx. (Small-flowered A.) Stem 3'- 12' high 

 from a slender rootstock ; root-leaves 3-parted, their broadly wedge-shaped divis- 

 ions crenate-incised or lobed ; involucre 2 - 3-leaved ; sepals 5 or 6, ocal, white ; 

 head of fruit globular. — Lake Superior, northward and westward. May, June. 



* * Taller, commonly branching above or producing two or more peduncles : sepals 



5-8, silky or downy beneath (4" -6" long), oval or oblong. 



4. A. multifida, DC. (Many-cleft A.) Silky-hairy (6'- 12' high); 

 principal involucre 2 -3-leaved, bearing one naked and one or two 2-leaved pe- 

 duncles ; leaves of the involucre short-petioled, similar to the root-leaves, twice or 

 thrice 3-parted and cleft, their divisions linear ; sepals 5-8, obtuse, red, sometimes 

 greenish-yellow or whitish ; head of fruit spherical or oval. — Rocks, Western Ver- 

 mont and Northern New York, Lake Superior, &c. : rare. June. 



5. A. cylindrica, Gray. (Long-fruited A.) Slender (2° high), 

 clothed with silky hairs ; flowers 2-6, on very long and upright naked pedun- 

 cles ; leaves of the involucre long-petioled, twice or thrice as many as the flower- 

 stalks, 3-divided ; their divisions wedge-shaped, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 

 one 3-cleft ; lobes cut and toothed at the apex ; sepals 5, rather obtuse, greenish- 

 white ; head of fruit cylindrical (1' long). — Sandy or dry woods, Massachusetts 

 and Ehode Island to Illinois and northwestward. May. — Peduncles 7' -12' 

 long, all appearing together from the same involucre, and naked throughout, 

 or sometimes part of them with involucels, as in the next. 



6. A. Virginiana, L. (Virginian A.) Hairy; principal involucre 3- 

 leaved ; the leaves long-petioled, 3-parted ; their divisions ovate-lanceolate, pointed, 

 cut-serrate, the lateral 2-parted, the middle 3-cleft; peduncles elongated, the 

 earliest naked, the others with a 2-leaved involucel at the middle ; sepals 5, acute, 

 greenish (in one variety white and obtuse) ; head of fruit oval or oblong. — Woods 

 and meadows; common. June -August. — Plant 2° -3° high; the upright 

 peduncles 6' -12' long. In this and the next species the first flowerstalk is 

 leafless; but from the same involucre soon proceed one or two lateral ones, 

 which are 2-leaved at the middle ; these partial involucres in turn giving rise to 

 similar peduncles, thus producing a succession of flowers through the summer. 



§ 3. Carpels fewer, the achenia and the short slender styles merely pubescent. 



7. A. Pennsylvanica, L. (Pennsylvanian A.) Hairy, rather low; 

 Involucres sessile; the primary ones 3-lcavcd, bearing a naked peduncle, and soon 

 a pair of branches or peduncles with a 2-leaved involucre at the middle, which 

 branch similarly in turn ; their leaves broadly wedge-shaped, 3-cleft, cut and 



